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Leading News
DMP crackdown on faulty, old
vehicles from today
UNB, Dhaka
Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) will launch a drive
against old and faulty vehicles in the capital from today
(Thursday).
"Police will start drive against over 20 years old buses,
minibuses and over 25 years old trucks as well as faulty
vehicles from today," DMP Commissioner AKM Shahidul Haq
told reporters after a awareness programme for drivers of
government vehicles at Government's Paribahan Pool near
Bangladesh Secretariat on Wednesday.
DMP has already constituted 15 teams and each team, led by
a magistrate, would conduct the drive mainly aimed at
solving traffic jam and checking environment pollution,
the Commissioner said.
He said the seized vehicles will be dumped into a place at
Kamalapur.
Replying to a question, the DMP chief said that they have
no information about any anarchy following the arrest of
top Jamaat leaders.
Police arrested Jamaat Ameer Matiur Rahman Nizami,
secretary general Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojahid, Delwar
Hossain Sayedee, senior assistant secretary general
Mohammad Kamaruzzaman and assistant secretary general
Qader Mollah on different charges.
The DMP Commissioner, however, said that police have
already been alerted to face any situation.
"We have adequate preparation to face any unpleasant
situation."
An earlier AFP report said, Bangladesh has announced the
decision to launch crackdown on the thousands of decrepit
and dangerous vehicles that ply Dhaka's busy roads in a
bid to ease chronic traffic congestion.
A team of 17 magistrates has been appointed to identify
and remove from service an estimated 12,000 buses,
minibuses and trucks that are over 20 years old,
Communications Minister Syed Abul Hossain said.
"This drive will greatly help reduce traffic jams and
accidents in the capital," he said.
Buses that are older than 20 years are already banned from
the capital's streets, but the law is routinely ignored.
Local media reports say illegal buses are involved in the
majority of road accidents in Dhaka.
Dhaka is one of the most congested cities in the world,
according to the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA).
BRTA said the city has 527,285 licensed vehicles, but this
is growing by about 20,000 a year in line with the city's
population growth -- which is up from 20,00,000 in 1974 to
12 million in 2010.
None
to be affected by DAP implementation: PM
UNB, Sangsad Bhaban
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said in Parliament on
Wednesday that none will be affected due to the
implementation of the Detailed Area Plan (DAP) for capital
Dhaka.
Responding to a supplementary question from Mujibul Huq (Jatiya
Party-Kishoreganj) during PM's question-answer hour, she
said that no one's land will be taken away and none will
be affected due to the implementation of the DAP. In this
regard, Hasina said that vested quarters are fanning the
fire against the implementation of the DAP. "We'll
implement the DAP in a planned manner."
About indecent behaviors by some land developers in front
of the State Minister for Housing and Public Works at a
meeting recently, she said the Minister took a strong
stand against the irregularities of certain developers.
"That's why they became angry with him."
The Prime Minister said the developers had contributed a
lot to mitigate the accommodation problems in the country.
"But none should be allowed to go beyond the rules."
She mentioned that during the previous governments there
were innumerable cases of irregularities in the country.
"We'll take proper action against all irregularities in
due course," she said, adding that the present government
is determined to stop all sorts of irregularities done by
the developers.
During the BNP-Jamaat alliance government, she said, some
developers built 20-storey buildings although they took
permission for 10-storey buildings.
Hasina also blamed the irrational attitude of the previous
governments for the present deplorable situation of Dhaka
city. "Mr Speaker, you can't imagine what will happen if a
strong earthquake hits Dhaka. The city will just turn into
a city of death," she said. She said the lands, which are
so precious, would not be allowed to be used
indiscriminately. "Everything will have to be done in a
planned way."
BGMEA
seeks media’s support to protect RMG sector
UNB, Dhaka
Conspiracy, low wages for workers and lack of congenial
working environment are the main reasons behind the recent
violence and unrest in the RMG sector that almost brought
the highest export earning sector near extinction,
speakers said at a discussion Wednesday.
They suggested balanced wage structure for workers,
introduction of trade unionism, developing internal
intelligence unit, permanent platform of discussion,
skilled and trained workforce, and strong public relations
body towards resolving the prevailing crisis by protecting
the interests of both workers and owners.
The discussants, which included editors of leading
national dailies, economists, university teachers and
garment manufacturers, made the observations at an opinion
exchange meeting on 'Present Crisis in RMG Sector' held at
Hotel Sheraton in the city.
Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association
(BGMEA) arranged the meeting, which was presided over by
its president Abdus Salam Murshedy.
Taking part in the discussion, executive director of
Center for Policy Dialogue (CPD) Prof Mustafizur Rahman
said bargaining will be there between owners and workers
but the people want to see a balanced wage structure for
the RMG workers.
"We hope the minimum wage structure, likely to be
announced on July 28, will match our assumption and
expectation," he said urging the owners to protect the
interest of workers.
Prof Mustafiz identified conspiracy, low wage and
uncongenial working environment as the key reasons behind
violence and unrest in the RMG sector.
Samokal editor Golam Sarwar said it is urgently needed to
have an acceptable wage structure through blending the
workers' expectation and the owners' interest for
protecting the garment sector.
He sought political consensus for the protection and
further flourishing of RMG sector keeping the RMG units
out of political programmes including hartal.
"Media is supportive to you. We'll stay beside you, not to
protect your interest but to protect country's interest,"
he said.
Dhaka University Prof Asif Nazrul said the owners should
consider with utmost sympathy the minimum wages for the
RMG workers.
"It (RMG) is not an industry of any party, rather of the
country. It' s the responsibility of all - owners, workers
and the government - to protect this industry," he said
adding that conspirators are getting the scope to create
unrest in the sector as anger is prevailing within it.
Delwar blames
Hasina for ‘stigmatizing’ democracy
UNB, Dhaka
BNP secretary general Khandaker Delwar Hossain on
Wednesday blamed Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina for
"stigmatizing democracy by using police illegally" against
its leaders and activists.
"The Prime Minister does not have the right to use police
force illegally to serve political purpose," he said at a
rally at city's Muktangon on Wednesday.
Delwar also said that Prime Minister Hasina cannot
jeopardize country's independence and sovereignty by
handing over Chittagong port to foreigners. Jubo Dal
organized the rally demanding withdrawal of "false" cases
against BNP leaders Mirza Abbas, Shamsher Mobin Chowdhury,
Shahid Uddin Chowdhury Annie MP and their immediate
release as well as finding out missing DCC ward councilor
Chowdhury Alam.
Jubo Dal president Syed Moazzem Hossain Alal presided over
the rally, which was also addressed by BNP senior joint
secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, joint
secretary generals Ruhul Kabir Rizvi and Amanullah Aman,
and Jubo Dal general secretary Saiful Islam Nirob.
Addressing the rally as chief guest, Delwar said people
became surprised when police re-arrested the BNP leaders
after getting bails from the High Court.
Criticizing the government for its failure to find out
missing ward councilor Chowdhury Alam, he said people want
to know about the whereabouts of Chowdhury Alam.
"The government will have to answer to the people if
Chowdhury Alam is harmed in any way," Delwar said accusing
the police and ruling party cadres for his missing.
7 police of
Ramna thana accused in murder case
UNB, Dhaka
Officer-in-Charge (OC) of Ramna thana and his six
colleagues were accused in a case of torturing to death
auto-rickshaw owner Babul Gazi in the city after taking
him into custody on June 28.
After hearing the case filed by his wife Nasima Akter
Shuvo, magistrate Mehedi Hasan Talukder ordered judicial
inquiry and submit report on August 16.
Those accused are OC Shibly Noman, SI Altaf Hossain,
Constable Siraj, Hiron, Nannu and police source Anisur
Rahman and Shahdat.
The plaintif said her husband procured three
auto-rickshaws for business. He used to drive one and two
others were given to drivers Karim and Momin on rent.
On June 17, RAB-3 DAD Golam Mustafa arrested Karim and
Momin along with an auto-rickshaw and filed a case with
Ramna thana accusing them of thieving the vehicle.
Babul Gazi rushed to Ramna thana to secure release of the
vehicle and the drivers. SI Altaf demanded Tk 2 lakh as
bribe for their release, and also threatened him of
implicating in theft case if the bribe money is not paid,
said the plaintiff.
Babul could manage and gave Tk 70,000 till June 27. Altaf
asked to pay the rest of Tk 1.30 lakh by the following
day.
At about 10pm on June 28, the police officer called Babul
by telephone to Moghbazar Khejurtala. As he went there,
Babul was taken to the Ansar Camp at T&T Colony and beat
him mercilessly. He was taken back to the thana and again
tortured. Finding him in serious condition, police took
Babul Gazi to the Dhaka Medical College Hospital where he
died in the morning of June 29.
Pallabi
mass killing case
Kader Mollah, Kamaruzzaman taken on five-day remand
BSS, Dhaka
The Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (CMM) Court on Wednesday
granted five days remand to the two Assistant Secretary
Generals of Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh Abdul Kader Mollah
and Mohammad Kamaruz-zaman in Pallabi mass killing case.
A strong contingent of police produced the two Jamaat
leaders before the court of Metropolitan Magistrate (MM)
Rokhsana Begum Happy in the afternoon and sought 10 days
police remand to interrogate them in connection with a
mass killing in city's Pallabi area during the War of
Liberation in 1971.
Metropolitan Public Prosecutor (MPP) Advocate Abdullah
Abu, Dhaka District Public Prosecutor Fakir Abdul Mannan
and Additional Metropolitan PP Shah Alam Talukder argued
for granting their remand before the court. Meanwhile, a
group of Jamaat backed lawyers opposed the remand prayer
and demanded immediate bail to their leaders.
The Court after hearing both the sides, granted five days
police remand for interrogating them in connection with
the case that was lodged with Pallabi Thana on January 25
in 2008.
They were also shown as arrested in another case of
Keraniganj Thana for their alleged involvement a group of
freedom fighters during the War of Liberation in 1971.
This case was filed with the police station against a
group of Rajakars including Kader Mollah and Kamaruzzaman
in Dec 2006. Police on Tuesday arrested them from the High
Court area while both of them were coming out from the
apex court.
Bangladesh Gas Bill 2010 passed
UNB, Sangsad Bhaban
Parliament on Wednesday passed the Bangladesh Gas Bill,
2010 with one of its aim being the creation of a
competitive market of gas through participation of the
private sector and individuals.
Another objective of the new law is to ensure timely
realization of bills for the sold-out gas. The Gas Bill
2010 contains a set of legal provisions governing
transmission, distribution, marketing, supply and storage
of natural gas as well as controlling the sale of
extracted gas and unaccounted gas.
State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources
Brig Gen (retd) Enamul Huq moved the bill in the House,
which was passed by voice vote in the absence of main
opposition BNP.
Under a provision of the bill, if a domestic consumer
obtains gas by establishing connection between supply line
and internal line avoiding meter or tampers with the meter
to show low consumption, s/he will be punished with three
months' imprisonment or Tk 10,000 as fine.
If the consumer repeats his/her offence, the punishment
will be six months' imprisonment or Tk 20,000 as fine. "If
any commercial consumer is found guilty of such offence,
he will be given punishment of six months' in prison or
fined Tk 20,000. The punishment and fine will be double if
s/he repeats the offence," says a provision of the bill.
Under the said provision, a person from the category of
industry, captive power or CNG station or tea garden will
be imprisoned for one year or fined Tk 100,000 or both for
similar offence.
If the person repeats the offence, s/he will face minimum
punishment of one year in jail and maximum punishment of
three years.
If an offender belongs to power or fertilizer category,
s/he will be punished with two years' imprisonment or
fined Tk 2 lakh, or both.
Back Page
President urges Slovak Republic to
recruit manpower from Bangladesh
UNB, Dhaka
President Zillur Rahman on Wednesday urged the Slovak
Republic to recruit skilled and semi-skilled manpower from
Bangladesh to help develop socio-economic cooperation
between the two countries.
The request came when newly appointed Slovak Ambassador to
Bangladesh Marian Tomasik, resident in New Delhi,
presented his credentials to the President at Bangabhaban.
During the meeting, the President said as the trade volume
between the two countries is very limited, this could be
expanded through increasing investments. "There's also
ample scope for export of garments, leather and leather
products to Slovak for increasing the trade volume," he
said. Zillur Rahman mentioned that the present government
would extend its all-out cooperation if Slovak Republic
comes forward to augment the bilateral trade through
increasing investment here.
He said Slovak businessmen may import more Bangladeshi
products particularly leather goods, ceramic wares and
pharmaceuticals, which are of world-class standard. The
new envoy apprised the President of his government's keen
interest to develop trade relations with Bangladesh and a
draft of trade agreement between the two countries is
under process.
Assuring to increase the trade volume, Ambassador Marian
Tomasik said that he would try his level best to increase
the volume of bilateral trade and commerce during his
tenure. "A trade agreement between the two countries will
be signed soon to boost the volume of trade," he said.
Tomasik put emphasis on exchanging high level visits of
trade delegations between Bangladesh and Slovak Republic
that will open up areas of cooperation in the field of
trade and commerce. Secretary to the President's office M
Safiul Alam, Military Secretary Maj Gen Abul Kalam M
Humayun Kabir and Press Secretary AKM Nesar Uddin Bhuiyan
were present during the meeting. Earlier, the Ambassador
was given a guard of honour by the President Guard
Regiment.
500-mw electricity from
solar power by 2012
BSS, Dhaka
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) will assist Bangladesh to
generate 500 megawatts of electricity from solar power
plants by 2012.
Power and Energy Adviser to the Prime Minister Dr
Taufiq-E-Elahi Chowdhury disclosed this information at a
roundtable in the city on Wednesday when a panel of
discussants advised exploring alternative sources to meet
the growing energy needs.
Quarterly magazine Power and Energy organized the
roundtable on the government's mega plan for the energy
sector and the challenges to implement it.
State Minister for Power and Energy Muhammad Enamul Huq,
former power and energy minister Ziauddin Bablu, former
state minister AKM Mosharraf Hossain, Power Development
Board (PDB) Chairman ASM Alamgir Kabir and Petrobangla
Chairman Dr Hussain Mansur took part. Experts, investors
and business leaders participated in the technical and
open sessions of the roundtable following a keynote paper
by Professor Ijaz Hossain of the Bangladesh University of
Engineering and Technology (BUET). Dr Taufiq said that the
government had already discussed with the ADB to get its
assistance to generate at least 500-mw electricity in the
next two years.
"We know the solar power will comparatively be expensive,
but the ADB will assist us to get the energy from this
alternative source," he said.
Besides, he said the government discussed with Nepal the
issues of production and participation to develop regional
power generation and supply chain.
Muhammad Enamul Huq supported open-pit coal development
and said the natural resource should be used sooner for
generating electricity. In the keynote, Ijaz Hossain
focused on the slow development of the cash- strapped gas
sector. He said the power sector development would not be
possible without ensuring adequate power and other energy
sources.
PDB Chairman ASM Alamgir Kabir said the government was
aware about all the challenges and addressed rightly the
issues so it can go ahead with the roadmap for the power
and energy sector. Petrobangla Chairman Dr Hussain Mansur
said the state-owned exploration company already enhanced
gas supply by 100 mmcfd only by sorting out some problems
in its existing gas wells. He said all the three rigs of
the company had been working continuously for the
development of the gas sector. Power and Energy Editor
Mollah Amzad Hossain moderated the roundtable discussions.
PM seeks British cooperation
for extraction of gas, coal
UNB, Dhaka
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has sought British
cooperation for extracting mineral resources including gas
and coal in Bangladesh.
Hasina made the request when visiting UK Minister of State
for International Development Alan Duncan MP paid a
courtesy call on her at Ganobhaban on Wednesday morning.
PM's press secretary Abul Kalam Azad said wide range of
issues including challenges posed by climate change,
welfare of Bangladeshi Diaspora in UK, bilateral trade and
business, women empowerment and good governance were
discussed during the meeting. On climate change, the Prime
Minister urged UK government to continue its support to
Bangladesh on facing the adverse impact of changing
climate.
Hasina reiterated her call for quick release of climate
change adaptation fund committed by the developed nations
at the Copenhagen Climate Change Summit in 2009. The Prime
Minister thanked the UK government for their contribution
to Bangladesh Climate Change Resilient Fund. She also
congratulated Alan Duncan on his appointment as the
Secretary of State for DFID. Hasina appreciated the UK
government for its support and assistance to Bangladesh
for holding general elections on December 29, 2008 in
free, fair, neutral and acceptable manner.
The Prime Minister also thanked the British government for
giving assistance in poverty alleviation, education,
health, sanitation, climate change and emergency aid at
times of natural disasters. On functioning of the present
parliament, Hasina told the UK Minister that all
parliamentary standing committees were formed at the first
session of the ninth Parliament to expedite good
governance. She noted that the chairmen of seven
parliamentary standing committees were selected from the
oppositions.
Duncan calls on Khaleda, suggest
strengthening democracy
UNB, Dhaka
British Minister of State for International Development
Alan Duncan after meeting with BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia
on Wednesday afternoon said his country preferred politics
of Bangladesh are conducted through parliament instead of
street.
He told newsmen that they want to see parliament work
effectively with a good set of rules where any member can
express his political few freely.
Duncan's visit to Bangladesh is the first of a minister of
the new UK government led by David Cameron. He called on
Khaleda Zia at her Gulshan office at 5-15 pm.
The British Minister said he discussed with Khaleda how
parliament works in Bangladesh. ""I am very aware of and
concern about the condition of democracy in Bangladesh,"
he said, adding they don't want to make judgment about it
as it is the internal matter.
He said those who were elected should perform in
parliament to make it effective as well as the members
should be allowed to speak freely and the opposition
members question the government on different issues.
Duncan said he had constructive talks with the opposition
leader. Relation between Bangladesh and UK is very strong
and they remain committed for international development
progarmme in Bangladesh.
Khaleda congratulated the new UK government led by David
Cameron and wished his success.UK acting High Commissioner
in Dhaka Duncan Norman, and BNP chairperson's advisers
Reaz Rahman and Sabihuddin Ahmed were present at the
meeting.
Peelkhana
carnage case
AL slates BNP’s rejection of charge-sheet
BSS, Dhaka
Awami League Joint General Secretary Mahbub-ul-Alam Hanif
on Wednesday strongly condemned BNP's rejection of the
charge sheet filed by the Criminal Investigation
Department (CID) of police in the Bangladesh Rifles (BDR)
carnage case.
"The BNP-Jamaat alliance did not take lessons from the
history.
They are still engaged in the old politics of conspiracy
and dreaming to capture power by any means," he said
addressing a press conference at AL President's Dhanmondi
office. Hanif appreciated various aspects of the charge
sheet and said an experienced team of the CID has carried
out investigation into the BDR mutiny with complete
neutrality and professional attitude.
It has been reflected clearly in the charge sheet that
none was implicated for any political reasons, he added.He
alleged that the BNP was frustrated and agitated when the
government could face the BDR mutiny peacefully.
They wanted to fish in troubled waters by shedding
crocodile tears for the army and making provocative
statements, he added.The AL leaders said the probe into
the BDR mutiny was conducted without any political
influence. If the government had any intention of
political vengeance, it could influence the investigation
agency and implicate the BNP or any other party. But
unlike the past BNP government, the grand alliance
government did not do it, he added.
Though there is a mystery why BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia
left her cantonment house before the BDR mutiny for three
days, the investigation did not try to prove any political
affiliation of the mutiny, Hanif said. He referred to
'fictitious stories' formulated by the last BNP-Jamaat
alliance government over the August 2004 grenade attack on
AL rally to kill Sheikh Hasina and urged the BNP leaders
to explain why they fabricated the Jaj Miah drama.
He questioned why the last alliance government diverted
the investigation into 10-truck arms haul in Chittagong to
another direction to hide the truth.The AL joint general
secretary said the whole nation is deeply shocked at the
death of 57 army officers. "Of the 57 army officers, 33
hails from Awami League supporter families. Yet, we did
not take the issue politically. All those whom we have
lost are our brothers, our children and asset of the
nation," he added.
69.44
people went abroad with employment during 1976 - June2010
UNB, Sangsad Bhaban
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Wednesday said the
government is committed to provide healthcare facilities
to the people for which 3551 physicians were appointed on
ad-hoc basis
Responding to a question during the PM's question hour she
said 1,445 nurses were also appointed recently.
She said that 6,347 medical assistants were appointed at
the field level. Process is on for recruitment of another
1,581 medical assistants. Hasina said that to provide
better healthcare to the people across the country, the
government has already gave clearance for appointment of
doctors at different levels.
The government is also distributing modern equipment to
hospitals for improved treatment of patients. Strict
measures have been taken to ensure attendance of doctors,
officers and employees in all public hospitals, she added.
Editorial
Ensuring Child Rights
It
is a good sign that the child rights issue is getting growing
importance in the country. Social Welfare Minister Enamul
Hoque Mostafa Shahid on Tuesday stressed the need for taking
comprehensive steps to build up the children into human
resource. One-forth of the country's population are children.
They need to be worthy citizens. The state has to bear all
responsibilities to build them up into human resource, he said
while addressing a workshop in the city. Ministry of Social
Welfare with support from UNICEF and Legal Education and
Training Institute (LETI) organized the workshop on the
proposed draft law on children.
Enamul Hoque Mostafa Shahid said it is easy to make law but it
is difficult to implement and abide by the law. The children
are not only future of the nation but also future of the
humanity, he said adding that the government has to consider
the proposed law in the context of the social condition.
The country observed World Children Day and Child Rights Week
2009 in October last. Then. Speakers at seminars oraganised in
the city on this occasion stressed that education alone can
ensure the rights of the children, and hence the first task to
ensure their rights is to ensure education for them. Moreover,
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina had called upon all concerned
including affluent people to supplement the government efforts
in flourishing the latent talent and social and mental health
of children to build them as worthy citizens.Meanwhile, while
so many sweet and valuable words were uttered on the occasion,
a media report depicted a gloomy picture of the state of
children in Bangladesh, a signatory to the Child Rights
Charter. It said as many as 74 lakh children of the country
are engaged in child labour. In today's world there are 250
million child workers of whom 70 per cent work in risky
atmosphere.
According to the survey of the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics
conducted in 2002- 03, the number of child workers aged
between five and 14 in the country is 2.65 million. Of them,
0.56 million children are engaged in risky jobs. After seven
years, now the number is definitely much higher than mentioned
above .Our government leaders, politicians, bureaucrats,
members of the civil society and the human rights activists
are always vocal against engaging children in factories,
mills, agricultural lands and other work fields as workers and
they also emphasize on providing opportunities for their
education. But in reality the number of children at work is
increasing day by day as they are required to earn the bread
of themselves and their families also. Child labour is
prohibited worldwide including our country, but in fact
children are engaged as labourers in almost all developing
countries including Bangladesh. This is violation of law, but
unfortunately in most cases poverty forces the children to
join works for earning money to sustain. Poor parents also
send their children to work to support the family.
According to unofficial information a large section of 74 lakh
child labourers are engaged in risky jobs in mills, factories
and elsewhere in the country at present They are compelled to
work for hours as labourers to earn the bread at an age when
they are supposed to go to schools and remain busy in studying
and playing. But many parents despite their earnest desire
cannot send their boys or girls to schools due to abject
poverty. As a result the child labourers are being deprived of
the opportunity to grow up as educated citizens. In other
words they are being deprived of their basis right as
enshrined in the UN Child Rights Charter.
This is a very sad state of children in the country. The
reality needs deeds, not words. While welcoming the move to
enact a new law we stress that the government should rescue
the children from their miserable life and provide food,
education, shelter and medicare for them and thus ensure their
rights.
Buriganga and
Turag
According
to an agency report, Bangladesh Inland Water and Transport
Authority (BIWTA) will lift 48 lakh cubic meters of garbage in
the second phase from the riverbeds of extremely polluted
Buriganga and Turag from September next. The BIWTA will spend
Taka 18.25 crore to complete the lifting of garbage in the
second phase. The BIWTA has already taken steps to complete
the tender awarding process by this month for the job. In the
first phase, the BIWTA lifted three lakh cubic meters of
non-degradable garbage, especially polythene. The government,
so far, allocated Taka 21.50 crore from its Climate Change
Trust Fund for lifting garbage from the riverbeds.
Chairman of BIWTA Abdul Maleq said they would lift garbage
from three km riverbed of the Buriganga from Babubazar bridge
point to Kamrangirchar point and from 1.5 km at Tongi Bazar
point of Turag river. The BIWTA would bring two amphibian
dredgers, two crocodile hunter-type vessels named 'scanvenza'
and one oil sucker from the United States for lifting the
garbage. Apart from lifting garbage, the 'scanvenzas' will
suck carbon dioxide and inject oxygen into the water to help
regain the habitat of fish of the river.Besides, the
oil-sucker vehicle will be deployed to remove the floating oil
from the surface water of the two rivers.
Environmentalists have expressed grave concern over the
pollution of specially the Buriganga river and contamination
of its water. They have urged the government to take immediate
steps to save the river from pollution and its water from
contamination. The water of the river is being contaminated
continuously as garbage and industrial wastes are poured into
it. In fact, the water of Buringa river has already become
unusable due to contamination. And, against this backdrop, it
is encouraging that the drive to clean the Buriganga river-bed
as well as the Turag will begin in September. Every city
dweller will welcome the move and wish the success of the
drive. But it has to be ensured wastes are not thrown into the
rivers afresh alongside the cleaning of their beds.
Analysis
Targetting Perjury
Accountability of any kind is almost impossible
in a country where almost all statements or cross-examinations
under oath are badly tainted.
Ikram Sehgal
The ongoing
controversy about fake credentials being used to enter
Parliament on false pretences, and thus conceivably preside
over the destiny of the nation, brings into focus a greater
affliction in the body politic of Pakistan, rampant perjury.
In my article "Perjury" written as far back as Feb 8, 2000, I
noted, "A few weeks ago I sat and watched in increasing
frustration and disgust as two executives of a semi-government
corporation lied through their teeth while giving evidence
under oath. Almost every sentence of their affidavits was a
lie, answers to every question was a blatant untruth. Even
though this was before one of the best judges ever produced by
the judiciary in Pakistan, the judiciary seems to have become
helpless to prevent perjury. The judiciary acts only on the
evidence on record, giving judgment on the basis of the
statute books without relevance to the integrity of the
evidence being presented before them", unquote. Being still
sub-judice ten years later (successfully filibustered by
well-paid lawyers of the opposite party it could go on for
many decades more), one cannot ethically take names.
As opposed to the suited and booted liars in the
aforementioned case, professional touts can be found outside
many subordinate courts in Pakistan, ready to render
"evidence" under oath for a price. In many criminal cases, the
verdict is subject to either influence and/or disbursements by
the highest bidder. While not always, perjury is taking place
in enough of the cases for the situation to be considered
catastrophic for the rule of the law. To put it bluntly,
justice can be manipulated to suit those who have a reason to
manipulate it, and have the means, either money or influence,
to do so. This subversion of the rule of law has become
endemic in many countries in varying degrees, in Pakistan even
more so. Clearly, drastic corrective action is a crying need
of the time.
Accountability of any kind is almost impossible in a country
where almost all statements or cross-examinations under oath
are badly tainted. Our failure to deal with systemic perjury
is why corruption has flourished. On December 15, 2005
"Eliminating Perjury", I wrote, "Justice is dependant upon the
evidence brought before those dispensing justice. If the
evidence is manipulated in any manner or a witness
deliberately makes material false or misleading statement the
verdict given will be flawed. It stands to reason that for
justice to be done, it is imperative to ensure the credibility
of evidence. In the first world, serious notice is taken of
perjury, and many are convicted and punished for it. One
really wonders as to the record of such convictions in third
world countries ? presumably it would be abysmally low".
Falsification of documents, statements, etc is done for
personal advantage, to derive benefit more than what is their
due. How many people have we sent to jail for such criminal
conduct?
Attacks by some senior (and supposedly responsible)
functionaries of the govt on the superior judiciary seems
deliberately motivated to destroy both the judiciary's
credibility and capability to uphold the rule of law. The
fabric binding society is the belief that those that are
supposed to uphold the law will do so, if one has reason to
fear these very people of violating the laws of the land then
the very basis of civilization fails.
A movement emanating from a small village called Nagalbari in
the 60s in India spread throughout the East and South East as
the "Naxalite" movement. Five decades later Naxalites have
become a potent force to contend with in many Indian States,
killing criminals and the corrupt in the judiciary and law
enforcement alike, not to mention corrupt bureaucrats, crooked
businessmen, anybody amassing inordinate wealth, etc. Even
though the Indians are generally in self-denial about Maoists
holding sway across a broad swath of India, even collecting
revenues in as many as 70 districts, it has assumed such
crisis proportions that the Indian Army is being increasingly
employed to go after hard-core terrorists. In Pakistan the
militants used the facade of religion in Swat, what they
really exploited was rampant injustice and frustrations
thereof. If the whole system is taken to be corrupt and the
justice meted out to be unjust and unfair, frustration forces
those seeking justice to take law into their own hands. Loss
of faith in the judicial system can become a very potent
breeding ground for vigilantes. Social upheaval turning
violent can spill over into the Pakistani heartland.
As officers of the court, both under law and professional
ethics, lawyers are not supposed to be party to fabrication
of, and tampering with, the evidence. They are duty bound to
bring malfeasance of any kind to the attention of the court.
Many lawyers will not take a case if they find evidence of
malfeasance, how many will report wrongdoing that comes to
their knowledge? Many fall back on the sacred nature of the
lawyer-client relationship that all facts disclosed are
privileged communication that cannot be disclosed to a third
party (or parties) if detrimental to the interests of the
client. When a court decides in favour of one side, unless it
is for technical reasons, it has effectively confirmed that
the other side's case submitted false evidence. Unfortunately
highly paid lawyers can distort evidence or have it set aside
on technical grounds, knowing evidence to be false and still
persevering with it not a clear violation of the oath to
present the truth and nothing but the truth?
Those committing perjury, and this includes distorting of
evidence, must be punished by stiff imprisonments and heavy
fines according to the nature of the offence. In criminal
trials, the punishment could be exactly what the accused would
have got if the evidence had been held to be correct. If based
on the statements of the witnesses committing perjury the
accused would go to the gallows, shouldn't those giving false
evidence face the gallows themselves? No given formula can be
used. The judge (or judges) must decide each case of perjury
on merit and come down with a heavy hand against perjurers as
well as their manipulators and abettors.
Except for the President, who for some odd reason is the only
holder of public office exempted from declaration of assets,
our Parliamentarians have furnished these under oath. If one
were to believe the stated record, most of them are living
below the poverty line. Why does not the Election Commission
(EC) have Class One auditors determine their actual wealth and
compare it against filed income tax statements and declaration
of assets information found fake and/or fraudulent makes them
guilty, of not only fraud, but more importantly, perjury.
Other than stiff jail sentences aside, perjurers should be
forever disqualified from holding public office. This is a
unique opportunity for the EC, and if not than the superior
judiciary, to make an example that no one is above the law and
that the rule of law will prevail, that perjury will not be
tolerated.
The great majority of elected representatives are honourable
people with genuine credentials, why should they object if
those of their colleagues committing perjury get exemplary
punishment?
Ikram Sehgal is an internationally renowned columnist and
the Editor of the Pakistan Defence Journal
Lashkars,
private militias and militants
In neighbouring Afghanistan, the private militias coming
to the aid of the military are as old as the
three-decade-old Afghan conflict.
Rahimullah Yusufzai
The
desperate American idea of raising village militias to
fight the Taliban in Afghanistan is reportedly being
opposed by President Hamid Karzai at a time when Pakistan
is suffering from the consequences of this policy.
The brutal bombings in Ekkaghund town in the tribal region
of Mohmand Agency on July 9 in which 106 people, mostly
civilians, were killed was a consequence of the initiative
sponsored by the Pakistan government and the military to
mobilise the tribes to take on the Taliban militants. The
attack was a botched Taliban attempt to target the
Utmankhel tribal jirga from the Ambar area in Mohmand
Agency where the militants had met tough resistance and
suffered considerable losses at the hands of the local
lashkar, or armed force, ironically referred to as amn, or
peace, committee.
The Taliban spokesman, Ikramullah Mohmand, for
Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), Mohmand Agency chapter,
while claiming responsibility for the attack made it clear
that the Utmankhel jirga elders from Ambar were the target
of the suicide bombings. The Taliban normally don't make
such claims when market-places are bombed and many
civilians are killed and injured, but in this case the TTP
accepted responsibility for the attack and at the same
time expressed regrets over the civilian deaths. This was
something rare, though there is no way any repentance on
the part of the Taliban would satisfy the bereaved
families or change public opinion about the horrible
Ekkaghund bombings that turned a bustling rural town into
a graveyard.
With the exception of Malik Sahibzada Utmankhel who had
been instrumental in raising the anti-Taliban lashkar in
his native Prang Ghar area, all the jirga members and the
government officials holding a meeting at the time of the
attack in the compound of the assistant political agent's
offices survived the twin bombings. The suicide bombers,
apparently two in number as one rode a motorcycle to
escort the other driving an explosives-packed vehicle,
failed to enter the government compound after colliding
with a passenger van. The devastating blasts caused death
and destruction on a massive scale as tribespeople living
in Ekkaghund town and selling and buying in the bazaar
were caught in the explosions.
The government-backed lashkars of tribal and village
communities have sometimes been effective in tackling the
Taliban militants in parts of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and
Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), but the cost
of this initiative in terms of human and material losses
has been unusually high. The lashkars in Dhog Darra in
Upper Dir district, Salarzai area in Bajaur Agency and
Ambar in Mohmand Agency have been notably effective even
though the tribes involved in the effort suffered huge
losses and are still required to be battle-ready all the
time. At times, the support promised by the government
didn't materialise. Many tribal elders often wonder for
how long they would have to mobilise their young men to
take on an enemy as determined as the Taliban.
Some of them complain that they were forced by the
authorities to raise lashkars and fight the militants. In
their view, they were being asked to do something that the
government and its security forces have been largely
unable to accomplish.
Blood-feuds have been the bane of the Pashtun society,
which must be the most heavily-armed in the world, but the
kind of feuds triggered by the enmities involving the
Taliban militants and the lashkars are unparalleled. The
militants, ruthless and revengeful, have retaliated with a
vengeance through suicide bombers to attack jirgas while
in session, kill pro-government tribal chiefs and
intimidate the common people.
Though exact figures aren't available, more than 250
tribal elders lost their lives in the tribal areas because
they defied the militants or continued to interact with
government and military officials despite being warned.
Some of the major TTP attacks on jirgas included the one
in Darra Adamkhel in March 2008 when more than 40 tribal
elders were killed in a suicide bombing and another
targeting the Salarzai jirga in Bajaur that caused the
deaths of 22 tribal chieftains in November 2008. The
biggest loss of tribal elders and commoners was in
Khadezai area in Orakzai Agency in the same year when a
Taliban suicide bomber mowed down a lashkar being raised
to fight the militants and killed around 140 people.
The lashkars, comprising men of the same Pashtun stock
harbouring strong feelings of honour and revenge, have
been equally vindictive. Revenge killings are now the
order of the day as militants and their facilitators are
hunted down, their houses are demolished and their
families are banished from ancestral villages. The Taliban
are being paid back in the same coin and punishment meted
out to them is justified on the ground that they did the
same to their opponents while in control of places like
Swat, Bajaur, Darra Adamkhel and Bara.
In neighbouring Afghanistan, the private militias coming
to the aid of the military are as old as the
three-decade-old Afghan conflict. Afghan communist rulers
under the guidance of the Soviet Red Army raised such
militias, including the one led by a former factory worker
Abdul Rasheed Dostum, to fight the Afghan mujahideen in
the 1980s. The Dostum militia or Gilum Jam as it was
commonly called comprised Uzbek and Turkmen fighters who
not only tried to keep the mujahideen out of their own
neighbourhoods in northern Afghanistan but also served as
mercenaries deployed in Pashtun-populated areas. Dostum
and commamders of other militias lacked ideology and
principles and joined whoever was willing to pay the
price.
A Japan-funded disarmament and demobilisation programme in
Afghanistan implemented a few years ago is now generally
categorised as a failure as private militias continue to
exist. The US and its NATO allies in desperate attempts to
control the growing Taliban insurgency also resorted to
campaigns to mobilise Afghan villagers to take on the
militants in their areas. These militias were given
different names, though the Afghans normally call them
arbaki. The US Special Operations forces are behind the
latest effort to train, arm and assist the village defence
militias.
General David Petraeus implemented a similar plan in Iraq
by arming and paying Sunni tribes to fight Al Qaeda in Al
Anbar and other provinces. Now that he has taken charge
from the sacked McChrystal in Afghanistan, he is keen to
widen this programme and double the number of places where
the village militias would be equipped and paid to fight
the Taliban.
However, President Karzai is reported to have reservations
about the plan. The beleaguered Afghan president is
worried it could lead to even more warlordism, already a
challenge for the weak central government, and
out-of-control private militias. If he had his way, he
would want a strong national army loyal and accountable to
the government instead of private militias answerable to
warlords. But the Americans with General Petraeus leading
the way are unlikely to put this plan on hold. In fact,
they see it as part of their strategy to reverse the
Taliban momentum and at the same time reduce their own
losses. General Petraeus may incorporate some Karzai
suggestions to build safeguards to prevent the village
militias from defying state authority, though this won't
be enough to reassure the Afghan government and people.
In Pakistan, there has been no debate on the issue of
lashkars as many people see it as a legitimate and
effective way to tackle the militants. There isn't much
concern for the consequences of arming villagers and
encouraging them to seek revenge against militants who may
have wronged them. In fact, bombing incidents like the one
in Ekkaghund are seen as justification for pursuing the
same policy of raising lashkars in a bid to defeat the
militants. The Taliban militants have done terrible things
and prompted most Pakistanis to believe that they deserve
no mercy and that every measures needs to be undertaken to
put them out of business.
The writer is resident editor of The News in Peshawar.
Email: rahim yusufzai@yahoo.com
Viewpoints
Pakistan-India peace talks: Some
lessons
Negotiations
between Pakistan and India are always difficult and
challenging for both countries as very intricate, complex and
longstanding issues are involved.
Dr Rashid Ahmad Khan
The
July 15th meeting between Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah
Mehmood Qureshi and his Indian counterpart S M Krishna is the
fourth in a series of high level parleys undertaken by the two
countries this year to reduce the trust deficit between them
and to put the derailed peace process back on track. The
foreign secretaries of Pakistan and India had their first
meeting in New Delhi in February. Although this meeting did
not produce any breakthrough, it was called a positive
development by both sides as it allowed them to put across
issues critical to each other. Then came the 'Thimphu thaw' -
the agreement between Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani and
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who met on the sidelines of the
SAARC Summit in Bhutan in April, to resume bilateral talks.
The two leaders decided that their foreign ministers would
soon meet to discuss how a full-fledged composite dialogue
could be resumed. The famous 25-minute telephonic conversation
between Qureshi and Krishna broke the ice and it was announced
that the foreign ministers of Pakistan and India would meet in
Islamabad. In order to finalise the agenda for this meeting,
the foreign secretaries of both countries met on June 26th in
Islamabad. Parallel to this meeting, another took place to
discuss the thorny issue of terrorism between Pakistan's
Interior Minister Rehman Malik and Indian Home Minister P
Chidambaram, who had arrived in Islamabad to attend the SAARC
Interior Ministers' Conference. All these meetings ended on a
positive note and reflected a realisation of the urgency for
removing the roadblocks to peace and normalisation.
Although, as Foreign Minister Qureshi had declared, prior to
his meeting with the Indian foreign minister that "miracles"
could not be expected from this meeting, the very fact that
the two countries are able to hold talks in an atmosphere full
of mistrust and suspicion provides ample room for hope and
expectations of a positive outcome. A healthy change in the
tone and tenor of the Indian leaders' statements on relations
with Pakistan, the cordiality and friendliness shown by both
sides in the preceding meetings and positive comments by
Manmohan Singh on the July talks, give further strength to the
belief that Pakistan and India could be well on the way
towards engaging each other in a comprehensive dialogue on all
those issues that were covered by the composite dialogue under
a stalled peace process.
Negotiations between Pakistan and India are always difficult
and challenging for both countries as very intricate, complex
and longstanding issues are involved. Despite all the
sincerity and seriousness that the leaders of both countries
have at times demonstrated for moving forward, "There can
always be", as Qureshi said, "an element that could try and
scuttle the process". He was referring to the threat of
terrorism which, in the shape of the Mumbai attacks in
November 2008, derailed the four-year-old peace process. India
wass reluctant to resume the stalled peace process but,
finding that no-talks is not a tenable option, has agreed to
engage Pakistan in a series of high level talks aimed at
creating what it calls "a conducive environment for the
resumption of the composite dialogue process."
From this, one can discern some lessons that the 2004-2008
Pakistan-India peace process holds for both countries. Some of
these lessons are:
One: there should be no preconditions. In the past, efforts to
put preconditions for holding talks failed and these will fail
in the future also. In 1994-97, there was a hiatus in mutual
communication because Pakistan and India stuck to certain
preconditions for talks. In 1997, the two countries resumed
talks because both dropped their preconditions. In the wake of
the 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks, India refused to hold talks
demanding, as a precondition, the prosecution of all those
suspected of involvement. Quite expectedly, this Indian
attitude led to the hardening of the Pakistani position on the
issue and about 20 months were wasted in posturing only.
Two: no timeframe or deadlines can be given. Both countries
will have to show patience, as - given the mistrust - the
process of normalisation will be slow. It is true that, for
this reason, the peace process has invited severe criticism,
especially in Pakistan. But given the enormous amount of
suspicion between the two countries, it will inevitably be
slow paced. General Musharraf became so frustrated over the
slow pace of the peace process that he issued a near ultimatum
to India and demanded a timeframe for the resolution of
disputes, particularly Kashmir. Sheikh Rashid Ahmad as
Musharraf's Information Minister even predicted a settlement
of the Kashmir dispute within a period of three years.
Ultimately, reality was accepted and both sides became
reconciled to achieving progress through a protracted process
of negotiations.
Three: there is no chance for the success of a threatening
policy, coercive diplomacy or arm-twisting tactics. This is a
lesson particularly for India to learn from its experience of
dealing with Pakistan during the last six decades. In 2001-02,
India failed to secure Pakistani compliance to its demands
even though half a million battle-ready Indian troops marched
up to the international boundary with Pakistan. Similarly,
Pakistan should forget that any amount of external pressure
will work on India. Ultimately, both countries will have to
sort things out between themselves as neighbours who have no
other option but to live in peace and mutual cooperation.
Four: only an incremental or step-by-step approach will ensure
the sustainability and progress of the peace process. For
years, the process of normalisation between Pakistan and India
remained deadlocked because of the former's 'Kashmir first'
stand. The four rounds of bilateral talks under the peace
process has, however, taught both Pakistan and India that
their complex differences, including those over the Kashmir
dispute, can be resolved only through a step-by-step approach,
moving towards difficult and complex problems by taking up
easy and lesser disputes first. Through this approach, the two
countries have also learnt the significance of expanding
people-to-people contacts for decreasing the trust deficit.
Fifth: the progressive enhancement of the level of
Pakistan-India engagement in bilateral talks since early this
year confirms, once again, that the peace process is
irreversible because its dividends are obvious and it has
created for itself strong constituencies of support at
national and international levels.
It is hoped that, while continuing this engagement, both
countries will keep in view these lessons to ensure the
sustainability and progress of these talks.
The writer is a professor of International Relations at
Sargodha University. He can be reached at rashid_khan192@yahoo.com
Beyond
violence and nonviolence: Resistance as a culture
If resistance
is "the action of opposing something that you disapprove
or disagree with," then a culture of resistance is what
occurs when an entire culture reaches this collective
decision to oppose that disagreeable element - often a
foreign occupation.
Ramzy Baroud
Resistance
is not a band of armed men hell-bent on wreaking havoc. It
is not a cell of terrorists scheming ways to detonate
buildings. True resistance is a culture. It is a
collective retort to oppression.
Understanding the real nature of resistance, however, is
not easy. No newsbyte could be thorough enough to explain
why people, as a people, resist. Even if such an arduous
task was possible, the news might not want to convey it,
as it would directly clash with mainstream interpretations
of violence and nonviolent resistance. The Afghanistan
story must remain committed to the same language: Al-Qaeda
and the Taleban. Lebanon must be represented in terms of a
menacing Iran-backed Hezbollah. Palestine's Hamas must be
forever shown as a militant group sworn to the destruction
of the Jewish state. Any attempt at offering an
alternative reading is tantamount to sympathizing with
terrorists and justifying violence.
The deliberate conflation and misuse of terminology has
made it almost impossible to understand, and thus to
actually resolve bloody conflicts.
Even those who purport to sympathize with resisting
nations often contribute to the confusion. Activists from
Western countries tend to follow an academic comprehension
of what is happening in Palestine, Iraq, Lebanon, and
Afghanistan. Thus certain ideas are perpetuated: suicide
bombings bad, nonviolent resistance good; Hamas rockets
bad, slingshots good; armed resistance bad, vigils in
front of Red Cross offices good. Many activists will quote
Martin Luther King Jr., but not Malcolm X. They will
infuse a selective understanding of Gandhi, but never of
Guevara. This supposedly "strategic" discourse has robbed
many of what could be a precious understanding of
resistance - as both concept and culture.
Between the reductionst mainstream understanding of
resistance as violent and terrorist and the "alternative"
defacing of an inspiring and compelling cultural
experience, resistance as a culture is lost. The two
overriding definitions offer no more than narrow
depictions. Both render those attempting to relay the
viewpoint of the resisting culture as almost always on the
defensive. Thus we repeatedly hear the same statements:
no, we are not terrorists; no, we are not violent, we
actually have a rich culture of nonviolent resistance; no,
Hamas is not affiliated with Al-Qaeda; no, Hezbollah is
not an Iranian agent. Ironically, Israeli writers,
intellectuals and academicians own up to much less than
their Palestinian counterparts, although the former tend
to defend aggression and the latter defend, or at least
try to explain their resistance to aggression. Also ironic
is the fact that instead of seeking to understand why
people resist, many wish to debate about how to suppress
their resistance.
By resistance as a culture, I am referencing Edward Said's
elucidation of "culture (as) a way of fighting against
extinction and obliteration." When cultures resist, they
don't scheme and play politics. Nor do they sadistically
brutalize. Their decisions as to whether to engage in
armed struggle or to employ nonviolent methods, whether to
target civilians or not, whether to conspire with foreign
elements or not are all purely strategic. They are hardly
of direct relevance to the concept or resistance itself.
Mixing between the two suggests is manipulative or plain
ignorant.
If resistance is "the action of opposing something that
you disapprove or disagree with," then a culture of
resistance is what occurs when an entire culture reaches
this collective decision to oppose that disagreeable
element - often a foreign occupation. The decision is not
a calculated one. It is engendered through a long process
in which self-awareness, self-assertion, tradition,
collective experiences, symbols and many more factors
interact in specific ways. This might be new to the wealth
of that culture's past experiences, but it is very much an
internal process.
It's almost like a chemical reaction, but even more
complex since it isn't always easy to separate its
elements. Thus it is also not easy to fully comprehend,
and, in the case of an invading army, it is not easily
suppressed. This is how I tried to explain the first
Palestinian uprising of 1987, which I lived in its
entirety in Gaza:
"It's not easy to isolate specific dates and events that
spark popular revolutions. Genuine collective rebellion
cannot be rationalized though a coherent line of logic
that elapses time and space; it's rather a culmination of
experiences that unite the individual to the collective,
their conscious and subconscious, their relationships with
their immediate surroundings and with that which is not so
immediate, all colliding and exploding into a fury that
cannot be suppressed." (My Father Was A Freedom Fighter:
Gaza's Untold Story)
Foreign occupiers tend to fight popular resistance through
several means. One includes a varied amount of violence
aiming to disorient, destroy and rebuild a nation to any
desired image (read Naomi Klein's The Shock Doctrine).
Another strategy is to weaken the very components that
give a culture its unique identity and inner strengths -
and thus defuse the culture's ability to resist. The
former requires firepower, while the latter can be
achieved through soft means of control. Many "third world"
nations that boast of their sovereignty and independence
might in fact be very much occupied, but due to their
fragmented and overpowered cultures - through
globalization, for example - they are unable to comprehend
the extent of their tragedy and dependency. Others, who
might effectively be occupied, often possess a culture of
resistance that makes it impossible for their occupiers to
achieve any of their desired objectives.
In Gaza, Palestine, while the media speaks endlessly of
rockets and Israeli security, and debates who is really
responsible for holding Palestinians in the Strip hostage,
no heed is paid to the little children living in tents by
the ruins of homes they lost in the latest Israeli
onslaught. These kids participate in the same culture of
resistance that Gaza has witnessed over the course of six
decades. In their notebooks they draw fighters with guns,
kids with slingshots, women with flags, as well as
menacing Israeli tanks and warplanes, graves dotted with
the word "martyr," and destroyed homes. Throughout, the
word "victory" is persistently used.
When I was in Iraq, I witnessed a local version of these
kids' drawings. And while I have yet to see Afghani
children's scrapbooks, I can easily imagine their content
too.
Ramzy Baroud (www.ramzybaroud.net) is an
internationally-syndicated columnist and the editor of
PalestineChronicle.com.
Baptism
of blood and seawater
After 90 years of western manipulation to keep the Arabs
away from Turkey, much to the dismay of the West, the
Arabs have rediscovered a friend in a new Turkey.
Amjad Ayub Mirza
All
the hard work of the 19th century British secret service
agent T. E. Lawrence, aka Lawrence of Arabia, regarding
the break-up of the Ottoman Empire and pitching the Arab
tribes against the Turks, seems doomed by the acts of
Israeli state terrorism on May 31, 2010, when it attacked
the peace aid flotilla sailing to the port of Gaza and
killed nine Turkish peace activists.
Yet, Turkey has kept its restraint. It has shown admirable
courage in taking the lead to break the global silence
over the Gaza blockade by practically sending tens of
thousands of material in aid. This is not the first time
that Turkey has stood the test. On a previous occasion at
Davos, the Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan
walked out of a televised panel discussion in protest
against the media bias, and described the Israelis as
those who "know how to kill".
The international community has joined Turkey in its
demand for a UN-led investigation into the killing of nine
Turkish peace activists by Israeli paratroopers. Any delay
in setting up a UN investigation team will only hasten
Turkey's eastward realignment. Turkey's vote against the
UN Security Council sanctions on Iran for its nuclear fuel
swap deal with Turkey and Brazil - that was brokered by
Ankara - is seen as a shift in that direction.
Recently, US secretary of Defence Robert Gates has accused
Europe of "pushing Turkey away" by not addressing its
ambitions to join the European Union in an apt manner. To
degrade Turkey's protest on the Gaza blockade and its
demand for a UN investigation team to be set up, by
suggesting that Turkey's reaction is a vengeful act, is
totally absurd. The West needs Turkey more than it needs
them. They need Turkey for NATO bases to carry on their
war on terror in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The roots of Turkey's non-admittance to the European Union
also seem to lie in the bias of Christian-dominated Europe
against Muslim-dominated countries entering the European
elite business club. The ignoring of Turkey's application
to join the EU has forced it to look elsewhere for
economic and strategic alliances.
One such manifestation was at the Turkish-Arab Summit held
on June 10, 2010 in Istanbul. The frantic applause with
which the Turkish prime minister was greeted as he walked
to the podium was a clear signal to the 'democratic' world
about where Arab sentiments now lie. The summit was
attended by 15 Arab foreign ministers as well as the
Lebanese President Saad Hariri. During the summit, Israel
was unanimously referred to as "criminal and barbaric".
Even Egypt, who along with Israel has closed its border on
Gaza, has demanded an apology from Israel and has relaxed,
slightly, the border crossing at Rafah. The summit ended
with a call to the world to aid the Palestinians, and to
send its top envoy Amr Moussa to visit Gaza, where he was
greeted with smiles by the leaders of Hamas who have ruled
Gaza since their election victory in 2006.
Israel's siege of Gaza has helped Hamas consolidate its
rule in the territory. It has successfully developed an
infrastructure to counter the blockade with tunnels
running through to Egypt from where goods are swiftly
smuggled into the besieged territory, thus undermining the
whole purpose of the blockade.
Breaking the blockade will also break the hegemony that
Hamas has over the trade and commerce of the besieged
city. And Turkey is indirectly trying to help the world
community achieve exactly that.
After 90 years of western manipulation to keep the Arabs
away from Turkey, much to the dismay of the West, the
Arabs have rediscovered a friend in a new Turkey. Modern
Turkey is the only working democracy in the Muslim world,
which is quite different from its 18th century theological
enterprise. Israel has, perhaps, helped Turkey to be born
again with the baptism of blood and seawater: a country
the Muslim world can look up to, again. A prospect that
would make the architect of today's divided Middle East,
Winston Churchill, turn in his grave.
Dr Amjad Ayub Mirza is a social activist working in
London. He can be reached at dr_amjad_mirza@hotmail.com
International
Indian
FM in Pakistan with ‘peace message’
AFP, Islamabad
India's Foreign Minister S.M. Krishna on Wednesday arrived
in Pakistan saying that he brought a message of "peace and
friendship" but calling on Islamabad to act decisively
against terrorism.
"I am carrying with me a message of peace and friendship
and we hope to undertake the voyage of peace, however long
and arduous," the Press Trust of India (PTI) news agency
quoted him as telling reporters in Islamabad.
Krishna and his Pakistani counterpart Shah Mehmood Qureshi
are scheduled to meet Thursday in the first foreign
ministers' talks since New Delhi suspended a four-year
peace process after the 2008 Mumbai attacks.
"Pakistan must realise that India harbours no ill-will
against it and the cancer of terrorism needs to be rooted
out completely," Krishna said.
"There can be no selective efforts against this scourge.
There is a clear and present danger from terrorist groups
that needs to be appreciated and acted upon decisively,"
he said in the PTI report.
On the eve of the meeting, India reportedly accused
Pakistani intelligence of overseeing the Mumbai attacks
during which 10 Islamist gunmen went on a 60-hour rampage
in the Indian city, leaving 166 people dead.
The Indian Express newspaper quoted Home Secretary G. K.
Pillai as saying the role of the Inter-Services
Intelligence (ISI) had become clearer through questioning
of David Headley, a suspect under arrest in the United
States.
"It was not just a peripheral role. They were literally
controlling and coordinating it from the beginning till
the end," Pillai was quoted as saying.
Krishna said he hoped to receive "feedback" on issues of
terrorism raised by Home Minister P. Chidambaram,
particularly in the light of discussions he had during a
recent visit to Pakistan "in the context" of Headley's
interrogation.
Thursday's talks will focus on how to resume India and
Pakistan's peace process, which collapsed in the wake of
the Mumbai attacks.
Krishna is also scheduled to meet Pakistan's President
Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani.
Taliban attacks kill
12 NATO soldiers in Afghanistan
AFP, Kabul
A string of bomb, rocket and gun attacks across southern
Afghanistan have killed 12 NATO troops in just two days,
officials said Wednesday, throwing the spotlight on the
spiralling cost of the war.
The brazen assaults included the killing of three British
troops by a rogue Afghan soldier, an incident that has
underscored concerns over efforts to build up the local
army, a cornerstone of the US-led war strategy.
Among the 12 dead, four were British troops and eight
American.
"We're in the toughest part of this fight," ISAF
spokesman, German army general Josef Blotz, told
reporters.
Four US soldiers were killed in a Taliban-style bombing
and a fifth by small-arms fire in the volatile south on
Wednesday, a spokeswoman for NATO's International Security
Assistance Force (ISAF) said.
Late Tuesday, Taliban insurgents had set off a car bomb,
then fired rockets and small arms into a police base in
the southern province of Kandahar, killing three US
soldiers and five Afghan civilians. Afghan police backed
by international forces fought back "and prevented
insurgents from penetrating the compound perimeter," ISAF
said.
Zalmai Ayoubi, a spokesman for the Kandahar government,
told AFP the car bomb was set off by a suicide bomber,
adding that several other insurgents attacked the base
with rockets and machine-gun fire for more than 20
minutes.
The interior ministry said another nine civilians were
killed in the neighbouring province of Helmand on Tuesday
when the minivan they were travelling in hit a roadside
bomb-the Taliban's weapon of choice.
Insurgents had killed more than 160 Afghan civilians since
June 1, Blotz said.
At least 365 NATO soldiers have also died in the conflict
so far this year, compared with 521 for all of 2009.
Nepal court defers ruling
on French ‘Bikini Killer’ appeal
AFP, Kathmandu
Nepal's Supreme Court on Wednesday deferred its ruling on
a murder conviction appeal by "Bikini Killer" Charles
Sobhraj, the Frenchman linked to a series of backpacker
killings in Asia in the 1970s.
The two-judge bench, which was due to announce a decision
Wednesday, said it had not had enough time to study
corroborating documents submitted during the latter stages
of the appeal process.
"We need two more weeks to decide," said Justice Ram Kumar
Prasad Shah.
Sobhraj is currently serving a 20-year life sentence for
the murder of American backpacker Connie Joe Bronzich in
1975. Bronzich had been stabbed repeatedly and her body --
burnt almost beyond recognition -- was found dumped on the
outskirts of the Nepalese capital, Kathmandu.
Sobhraj, 65, was convicted of her murder in 2004, although
he has always maintained that he was not in Nepal at the
time of the killing.
A previous appeal against the conviction was rejected in
2005. Sobhraj maintains he had never visited Nepal before
he was arrested at a Kathmandu casino in 2003, although a
retired policeman has since testified that was spotted in
the country in 1975. Handwriting analysis played a
significant part in the conviction, with signatures on two
hotel registration cards around the time of the murder
said to be his. His lawyers say the originals were never
produced during his trial, only photocopies.
Born to Vietnamese and Indian parents but of French
nationality, Sobhraj has been linked to the deaths of at
least 12 backpackers across Asia in the 1970s -- events
that led to the "Bikini Killer" sobriquet.
Nihita Biswas, a 21-year-old Nepalese woman who reportedly
married Sobhraj in prison two years ago, voiced
frustration at the delay in the appeal verdict.
"I'm definitely disappointed, but I think these kind of
things take a very long time, so we have to be patient,"
she told reporters outside the court.
"I'm still confident of a complete acquittal," Biswas
said.
Sobhraj had previously served 21 years in an Indian prison
for culpable homicide.
His reputation has been fuelled by numerous successful
prison escapes from jails in Greece, Afghanistan and
India, where he drugged guards with sedative-laced sweets
and walked out of New Delhi's high-security Tihar jail.
Hague says new British govt
to build on China ties
AFP, Beijing
Britain's foreign secretary vowed Wednesday that the new
coalition government would strengthen ties with China
which have been strained by clashes over human rights,
climate change and other issues.
"We hope to continue on the work of the previous Labour
government. I think they did some good work in developing
relations with China," William Hague told reporters during
a one-day stop in Beijing.
Hague, who spoke after meeting his Chinese counterpart
Yang Jiechi, singled out trade and economic ties but also
cooperation on Afghanistan and international efforts to
halt Iran's controversial nuclear drive.
Yang also voiced support for a closer relationship,
saying, "We believe that the common interests of the two
countries far outweigh the differences."
Neither side offered specifics on future cooperative
efforts.
Hague also met Premier Wen Jiabao later on Wednesday.
New British Prime Minister David Cameron has accepted an
offer from China to visit later in the year, officials
have said.
Relations under Britain's previous Labour administration
soured last year when British climate change secretary Ed
Miliband accused China of "hijacking" a summit on global
warming in Copenhagen.
London was also furious at China's execution in December
of a Briton on drug smuggling charges.
Hague will be in Japan on Thursday and Friday, where he
will meet Prime Minister Naoto Kan and Foreign Minister
Katsuya Okada.
Sri Lankan cabinet meets in
former rebel capital
AFP, Kilinochchi
The president of Sri Lanka held a cabinet meeting on
Wednesday in the northern town of Kilinochchi, the capital
of the Tamil Tigers rebels until they were finally
defeated last year.
The separatist guerrillas controlled one-third of Sri
Lanka as recently as 2006 and ran a de facto state from
Kilinochchi that included their own legal, banking and tax
collecting systems.
Mahinda Rajapakse held a two-hour cabinet session and a
review of construction work in the former war zone before
meeting with ethnic Tamils who were displaced during the
final months of the war, his office said.
The venue for the cabinet meeting was seen as part of
Rajapakse's efforts to present Sri Lanka as a united
country since the defeat of the rebels, despite continuing
deep ethnic divisions on the island.
The United Nations estimates that some 7,000 Tamil
civilians perished in the final four months of the
conflict, which claimed up to 100,000 lives since 1972.
Rajapakse's military offensive triggered international
calls for a war crimes probe.
More than 10,000 evacuated
during China storms
AP, Beijing
Workers raced to build waterways to drain overflowing
reservoirs in southeastern China and thousands were
evacuated following torrential rains that triggered flash
floods on Wednesday.
Heavy rains overwhelmed three reservoirs in Poyang county
in northern Jiangxi province, forcing the evacuation of
more than 10,000 people, the official Xinhua News Agency
reported. Torrential storms have pelted the Yangtze River
basin this week - including parts of Sichuan, Jiangsu,
Zhejiang, Jiangxi and Anhui provinces.
In western China, the death toll from landslides triggered
by heavy rains rose to 41, with dozens still missing,
Xinhua reported. In the worst-hit community of Xiaohe in
Yunnan province, the death toll climbed to 17 following a
landslide that swept through town before dawn on Tuesday,
Xinhua said. Two landslides killed 14 in neighboring
Sichuan province while in Hunan province, 10 people
including four young children died in two separate slides
this week, the report said.
Meanwhile, the waters in a reservoir near the far western
city of Golmud began to subside after hundreds of workers
and soldiers finished digging a diversion channel, an
official at the Qinghai province water bureau said.
20 dead as typhoon smashes
Philippines
AFP, Manila
Typhoon Conson ripped across the Philippines on Wednesday,
killing at least 20 people as it destroyed shanty towns
and caused widespread blackouts that brought the nation's
capital to a standstill.
Sixty other people were reported missing after Conson hit
the Southeast Asian archipelago late on Tuesday, then
whipped the main island of Luzon throughout the night with
wind gusts of 120 kilometres (74 miles) an hour.
"The wind howled like a child screaming," said Rigor
Sambol, 52, a father of six who lives in a coastal shanty
town on the outskirts of Manila that was partly destroyed.
"It was so strong, our houseboat nearly got flipped over.
I had to take the children one by one to a nearby gym
where they spent the evening on the cold floor."
Some of the flimsy slum homes erected by squatters along
the coast were swept away entirely, leaving the shocked
residents to scavenge scrap wood to build makeshift
shelters, according to an AFP reporter there.
Authorities across Luzon said 20 people had been confirmed
killed, including two squatters from a vast lakeside
shanty town near Manila who were crushed when their homes
collapsed.
Fifty-seven fishermen were also missing, while three other
people were unaccounted for south of the capital after
flooding swept away their shanties, according to the
military.
The Philippines is in the so-called typhoon belt of the
Pacific. Up to 20 typhoons sweep through the country each
year, killing hundreds of people.
But the ferocity of Conson, which was the first typhoon of
the season, took many people in Manila by surprise after
the state weather service said it would only strike
provinces to the north of the capital.
Electricity was knocked out for most of Manila, causing
major problems for businesses and forcing schools to close
in the city of 12 million people.
The national energy transmission company said 80 percent
of Manila remained without power by nightfall and that it
could take until Friday for supplies across the city to be
restored completely. Other areas of Luzon may have to wait
until the weekend, the company warned.
The capital's overhead railway system was also shut down
due to the power outage, while international and domestic
flights were disrupted.
For workers in office towers that were relying on back-up
generators, it was still difficult to make telephone calls
on both landline and mobile networks, while Internet
services were also interrupted.
Russia
promises Iran fuel despite sanctions
AFP, Moscow
Russian companies are ready to supply fuel to
energy-hungry Iran, despite unilateral US and EU sanctions
targeting Tehran's oil and gas sectors, the Russian energy
minister said on Wednesday.
The pledge came amid a period of tension between Russia
and Iran unprecedented in the last two decades, compounded
this week by President Dmitry Medvedev's statement that
Tehran was nearing the potential to build an atomic bomb.
"Russian companies are prepared to deliver oil products to
Iran. The possibility of delivering oil products to Iran
exists, if there is a commercial interest," said Russian
Energy Minister Sergei Shmatko.
Russia has already expressed its dissatisfaction with the
sanction measures agreed last month by the United States
and the European Union to punish Iran for its defiance in
the nuclear standoff.
These go beyond the new UN sanctions that were agreed by
Russia and other world powers which mainly target
military-related industries.
"Sanctions cannot hinder us," Shmatko said after a meeting
in Moscow with Iranian Oil Minister Massoud Mir Kazemi,
quoted by Russian news agencies. The two ministers also
signed a joint declaration boosting cooperation in energy
that envisages Moscow and Tehran creating a "roadmap" to
plan out their future oil and gas cooperation.
The declaration says that the two sides will also consider
the creation of a joint bank to finance oil and gas
projects as well as the founding of other joint energy
ventures.
Iran, which holds around 10 percent of the world's oil
reserves, is the world's fourth-biggest oil exporter and
the second-largest producer in the oil cartel OPEC after
Saudi Arabia.
However a lack of refining capacity and inefficiency
problems means Iran has to import vast volumes of petrol
from a variety of sources in order to satisfy domestic
demand.
‘Abducted’ Iran
scientist on way home from US, vows to tell all
AFP, Tehran
Iranian scientist Shahram Amiri, who surfaced in
Washington after going missing for more than a year, left
for home Wednesday vowing to reveal full details of his
claimed abduction to the United States.
Iran's foreign ministry said the nuclear expert would
arrive in Tehran early Thursday morning via Qatar.
Before leaving Washington, where he had on Tuesday taken
refuge in Iran's Interests Section office, Amiri said in
an interview with Iran's state television he had been
abducted at "gun point" in Saudi Arabia in May 2009.
He said he had been approached by besuited Farsi-speaking
men in a car in the Saudi city of Medina, where he was on
a pilgrimage, and offered a ride to the mosque.
"As I opened the door, one of the passengers pulled out a
gun and told me to be quiet. They gave me an injection and
when I came around I was in a big plane. I was
blindfolded. It was likely a military plane," he said.
In a separate interview, he told English language Press TV
channel that he would reveal full details of his ordeal
when he is back on home soil.
"When I am hopefully in my dear country Iran, I can speak
to the media and my own people with ease of mind and tell
them about my ordeal over the past 14 months, incidents
that have been a mystery to many," Amiri said.
The disappearance of Amiri, who worked in a university
linked with the Revolutionary Guards, sparked accusations
by Iranian officials that he was kidnapped by the US
Central Intelligence Agency.
Hezbollah claims it holds ‘precise’
Israeli target list
AFP, Beirut
Hezbollah stands ready for a showdown with Israel and
knows what to target in the event of another conflict, the
party's second-in-command Naim Qassem claimed in an
interview published Wednesday.
"We now hold a large and precise bank of Israeli targets,
and Israel will have to pay the price for any step it
takes," Qassem told the mass-circulation daily An-Nahar.
"Hezbollah has worked to develop its readiness to rise to
the challenge should it arise, and we can safely say that
in the past four years we have prepared ourselves far more
than Israel has," he told the Arabic-language daily which
is close to a parliamentary alliance that rivals
Hezbollah.
"But that does not mean that war is near," Qassem added.
The last deadly war between Hezbollah and Israel was
triggered by the kidnapping of two Israeli soldiers by the
Shiite militant group in a cross-border raid on July 12,
2006.
The month-long fighting that ensued destroyed much of
Lebanon's major infrastructure and killed about 1,200
Lebanese, mainly civilians, and 160 Israelis, most of them
soldiers.
Security Council Resolution 1701 ended the conflict and
beefed up a United Nations peacekeeping force deployed in
southern Lebanon since 1978.
But tension between the two foes has risen again after
Israel in April accused Syria of smuggling Scud missiles
to its ally Hezbollah, a charge Damascus denies.
Israel's military says the Shiite group has a stock of
some 40,000 rockets and this month published aerial
photographs showing what it says is evidence of Hezbollah
stockpiling weapons in towns and villages near the border.
Saudi to restart direct
flights to Iraq after 20-year freeze
AFP, Riyadh
Saudi airline Alwafeer will begin regular flights to Iraq
this week, some 20 years after the kingdom stopped flights
following Saddam Hussein's invasion of Kuwait, an airline
official said Wednesday.
Jeddah-based Alwafeer, launched last year as mainly a
carrier for Muslim pilgrims coming to Saudi Arabia, will
make its inaugural flight to Basra on Thursday, said
marketing director Saleh Bogary.
"Tomorrow is our first flight," Bogary told AFP. "And then
Saturday and Monday to Baghdad, and Tuesday again to
Basra," he said.
Bogary said that in addition to the four flights a week
planned now, the company hopes to add a weekly flight to
Suleimaniya in a few weeks.
When it launched last September, privately owned Alwafeer
focussed on charter flights carrying Muslim pilgrims to
Jeddah-the main gateway to the holy cities of Mecca and
Medina-from Niger, Chad, Libya and India.
But more recently the carrier, which operates three
450-seat Boeing 747s, has opened a weekly flight to
Jakarta carrying all types of passengers, and received
government permission to begin flying to Iraq.
The main target will be pilgrims, Bogary said. For years
travellers from war-ravaged Iraq have been forced to
travel overland to other countries to get flights to
Jeddah, or take buses to the holy cities. There is a large
pent-up demand among Iraqis wanting to undertake the umrah,
or minor pilgrimage, he said.
Kyrgyzstan detaining,
torturing Uzbeks over riots: HRW
AFP, Moscow
Human Rights Watch on Wednesday accused Kyrgyzstan of
detaining and torturing Uzbeks suspected of involvement in
last month's deadly riots, warning the tactics could spark
renewed bloodletting.
HRW said Kyrgyzstan's Uzbek minority was being
disproportion ally targeted in the probe into the clashes
between Kyrgyz and Uzbek groups in south Kyrgyzstan which
officials have said may have left up to 2,000 dead.
"Human Rights Watch expressed concern about what appears
to be the disproportionate targeting of ethnic Uzbeks
during the security operations," the international rights
group said in a statement.
"The Kyrgyz authorities should take urgent steps to stop
the widespread torture and arbitrary detentions of Uzbeks
suspected of participation in the violence that erupted in
June."
HRW said at least one man had died in over 30 cases it
researched of beatings and torture in the custody of
Kyrgyzstan security forces tasked with investigating the
clashes.
In the southern region of Osh, Uzbek neighborhoods have
been prey to daily raids by armed groups dressed in
camouflage, HRW cited witnesses as saying, describing the
detentions as "unsanctioned" and "arbitrary".
Relatives of the men abducted in raids have gone days
without news of those missing and have been asked to pay
police bribes for their return in some cases, the group
said. Six men interviewed by HRW described being beaten
with batons and rifle butts while at least two said they
had been suffocated with gas masks and burned with
cigarette butts, according to its report.
"While the Kyrgyz authorities have an obligation to
investigate the June violence and prosecute those
responsible, they must do so without violating
international or Kyrgyz law," said Anna Neistat, a HRW
researcher in Osh. "Coercing confessions through torture
discredits the investigation and fans the flames of the
ethnic conflict."
Victims of the June clashes have told AFP the violence was
an orchestrated campaign by armed Kyrgyz militias
targeting Uzbeks, who make up about 14 percent of
Kyrgyzstan's population of 5.3 million.
There have also been allegations that the local Kyrgyz
security forces were complicit in the violence against the
Uzbeks.
Three policemen killed in
‘Qaeda’ attacks in south Yemen
AFP, Sanaa
Suspected Al-Qaeda gunmen launched simultaneous attacks
Wednesday on the intelligence and security services
headquarters in the south Yemen town of Zinjibar, killing
three policemen and wounding 11, a security official said.
Two gunmen were killed and one wounded in the clashes, the
official added.
He said that around 20 gunmen carried out the attacks, and
that Al-Qaeda was believed to be responsible.
The defence ministry's 26sep.net news website reported
that "more than 20 terrorists from the Al-Qaeda
organisation" were involved, citing local sources.
Witnesses said gunmen on motorbikes armed with
rocket-propelled grenades, assault rifles and grenades
began attacking the two headquarters at around 8:00 am
(0500) GMT.
26sep.net said the gunmen attacked the intelligence
headquarters from a nearby girls' school. Seven of the
attackers were arrested, it said, citing the local
sources.
Security forces also seized a car used by the gunmen,
which contained military uniforms, suicide belts filled
with explosives and other weapons and gear, the website
added.
After a fierce gunbattle, the attackers fled toward Jaar,
north of Zinjibar, witnesses said.
Two policemen were killed at the security services
headquarters and a third at the intelligence headquarters,
the security official said, adding that police have one
dead attacker's body while the surviving gunmen took the
other.
"It seems Al-Qaeda was behind the attacks," the official
told AFP.
An interior ministry spokesman confirmed in a statement
that two of the attackers were killed.
Security forces cordoned off the sites of the attacks and
closed the main streets of the Abyan province town for
over an hour, witnesses said.
The clashes follow another recent attack by an assailant
on a motorbike in Zinjibar.
On July 2, 26sep.net reported that a gunman on a motorbike
killed a Yemeni intelligence officer in Zinjibar.
Authorities said the attack was carried out by Al-Qaeda.
Zinjibar is located about 25 kilometres (15 miles)
northeast of Aden, where 11 people, including seven
security forces members, were killed in a June 19 attack
on the intelligence headquarters there.
Christian-Muslim clashes
kill 8; mosques, church burnt
AFP, Kano
Clashes between Christians and Muslims in eastern Nigeria
have killed eight people and seriously wounded 40, with
six mosques and one church also burnt, police said on
Wednesday.
"From reports at our disposal, eight people have been
killed and 40 others seriously injured in the violence
while six mosques and one church were burnt," Taraba state
police commissioner Aliyu Musa told AFP.
Fighting broke out Tuesday between Muslim and Christian
youths in Wukari, a town in predominantly-Christian Taraba
state, over the construction of a mosque on the premises
of a local police headquarters. A Christian mob opposed to
the mosque razed it, Musa said by telephone from Jalingo,
the capital of Taraba state. Muslims responded by
attacking a nearby church, leading to the eruption of
violent clashes between the two sides, Musa said.
Police sent in reinforcements and calm was restored by
Wednesday, he said. Sectarian clashes occur frequently in
Nigeria, particularly in the country's north, with
hundreds of people killed in violence this year alone.
Taraba neighbours Plateau, the central Nigerian state
whose capital Jos is a sectarian flashpoint. The latest
clashes come weeks ahead of the one-year anniversary of an
uprising by an Islamist sect in the northern city of
Maiduguri. Nigerian police and troops crushed the uprising
by the Boko Haram sect-which has also been called the
Nigerian Taliban-after four days of street battles that
left more than 800 dead, mostly sect members.
Business/Economy
Singapore set to be world’s fastest-growing economy in
2010
AFP, Singapore
Singapore looks set to become the world's fastest-growing
economy in 2010 after the government upgraded its forecast
to a blistering 13 to 15 percent annual expansion,
economists said Wednesday.
The new estimate, up sharply from an earlier prediction of
7.0 to 9.0 percent, outstrips forecasts of around 10
percent growth in regional powerhouse China and comes
despite lingering worries over the US and European
economies.
He said the new growth forecast was "realistic" despite a
projected slowdown in the second half because gross
domestic product (GDP) expansion in the first six months
of the year was likely to be 18 percent. Asia's other
export-oriented economies are also expected to post
healthy increases this year, but Singapore has other
growth drivers including its tourism and financial
services industry, he told AFP.
Singapore opened two huge casino resorts this year that
have proved a popular draw. David Cohen, a regional
economist with research house Action Economics, said
Singapore will "probably come on top of the charts
worldwide".
Cohen, however, said this should be seen in the context of
Singapore's GDP contraction of 1.3 percent last year due
to the global economic crisis, while China's GDP grew at
around 9.0 percent in 2009.
Strong second-quarter GDP figures "reinforce the view that
fears from the eurozone crisis may be exaggerated," DBS
Bank said in a note. As Singapore is the "most sensitive
to headwinds in the global economy, this is good news for
investors looking to put on risk again," DBS added.
Robust demand for Singapore's manufactured exports,
particularly biomedical products and semiconductors,
resulted in the sharp upgrade for the trade-driven
island's GDP growth forecast.
Growth in the first quarter was 16.9 percent from a year
ago, the Ministry of Trade and Industry said, while second
quarter expansion is estimated at 19.3 percent. In a
separate statement the trade promotion body International
Enterprise (IE) Singapore said non-oil domestic exports-a
barometer of the health of the economy-jumped 29 percent
in June from a year ago, faster than the 24 percent figure
the month before. Electronics exports, including computer
chips, climbed 44 percent in June, after rising 39 percent
in May.
Non-electronics shipments, among them pharmaceuticals,
petrochemicals and specialised machinery, were up 21
percent in June, compared with the 16 percent rise the
month before, IE Singapore said.
The country's exports are now expected to advance by
between 17 and 19 percent this year, up from the previous
forecast of 15 to 17 percent. It cited strong trade with
Asian economies led by China as a key factor for the
upgrade of the export forecasts.
The trade body noted China's surging imports, with
Beijing's trading partners expected to benefit from rising
demand from Chinese consumers.
Asian
markets regain confidence after US data
AFP, Hong Kong
Asia stocks surged Wednesday as positive US corporate
earnings and greater optimism about Europe steadied nerves
in China and Japan, but optimism wilted in Mumbai on fears
of an interest rate hike.
Japanese shares closed up 2.71 percent as Wall Street's
sixth consecutive gain lifted spirits.
The Nikkei index of the Tokyo Stock Exchange jumped 258.01
points to 9,795.24, while the Topix index of first-section
shares rose 1.91 percent.
The market was bullish as the US second-quarter earnings
season gained momentum, with aluminium giant Alcoa
swinging to profit and chip giant Intel reporting its best
ever quarterly profits.
Greece's successful bond issue boosted confidence in
Europe, offsetting worries that had been exacerbated by
Moody's downgrade of Portugal's sovereign debt rating.
"There have been some upgrades on US technology stocks
after Intel's result that have helped broader market
sentiment today," Macquarie Private Wealth client adviser
Marcus Droga told Dow Jones Newswires. "It all looks
pretty positive at this stage."
After a poor start to the week for the exchange, Japanese
hi-tech shares gained in particular, helped by a weaker
yen: Kyocera jumped 4.42 percent, TDK 5.13 percent and
Elpida Memory 3.55 percent.
Ratings agency Standard & Poor's urged Japan this week to
get a grip on its public debt amid fears of a lengthy
stalemate after the government's rout at weekend polls.
Singapore's Straits Times Index closed up 0.82 percent at
2,952.81 as the city state upgraded its 2010 growth
forecast to a blistering 13-15 percent, potentially making
it the world's fastest growing economy.
Oil rig maker Keppel Corporation rose 10 cents to 8.90 and
agribusiness firm Wilmar International gained eight cents
to 6.10.
Sydney's S&P/ASX 200 index closed up 1.87 percent,
unflustered by a downward revision of the country's growth
projection for 2010-11 to 3.0 percent from 3.25 percent.
Banks and resources led the rise, with Macquarie up 2.29
percent and AMP up 2.98 percent.
Hong Kong closed up 0.64 percent and Shanghai up 0.82
percent, off intra-day highs as traders remained cautious
about upcoming US and Chinese economic data as well as the
mega IPO of Agricultural Bank of China later in the week.
Beijing releases inflation and growth statistics on
Thursday.
Bank stocks in both cities led the gains, with Bank of
China rising 4.28 percent in Hong Kong, also lifted by a
decision allowing it to handle yuan cash settlement
services for Taiwan.
But in Mumbai early exuberance faded as data showed that
the nation's double-digit inflation had edged higher in
June to an annual rate of 10.55 percent, fuelling fears of
further monetary policy tightening.
India’s
double-digit inflation inches higher
AFP, New Delhi
India's double-digit inflation edged higher in June,
touching an annual rate of 10.55 percent, official data
showed Wednesday, stoking pressure for another interest
rate hike this month.
The inflation increase, which comes ahead of the central
bank's quarterly policy meeting on July 27, was mainly due
to a rise late last month in fuel costs as well as an
increase in food prices, the data showed.
The wholesale price index, India's main cost-of-living
measure, rose to 10.55 percent from a year earlier after a
10.16 percent increase in May. High inflation is a
lightning rod for political unhappiness in the country,
where hundreds of millions of people live below the
poverty line.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's Economic Advisory Council
warned Tuesday the central Reserve Bank of India (RBI)
might tighten monetary policy further due to the
persistent rise in prices and capacity constraints in
factory output.
"If inflation level persists at double-digit levels...
some action on the demand side is needed and some action
on the part of RBI is required" until more industrial
capacity comes on stream, council chairman C. Rangarajan
said.
Earlier this week, data showed India's industrial output
decelerated sharply to 11.5 percent in May, its weakest
pace in seven months, as factories ran into capacity
constraints after months of breakneck expansion. The
central bank has raised rates three times since March,
including twice this month. April's inflation reading was
revised higher to 11.23 percent-a 19-month peak, the data
showed.
But the central bank expects inflation to soften to 5.5
percent by the end of the financial year to March 2011,
helped by expected plentiful monsoon rains, which should
increase harvests and ease food prices. The opposition has
blamed Singh's Congress-led government for failing to keep
a check on prices since it was returned to power in
elections last year.
British jobs
market shows ‘encouraging’ signs
AFP, London
Britain's jobs market shows encouraging signs of
improvement, official data showed on Wednesday, boosting
hopes of a strengthening economic recovery, according to
analysts.
The unemployment rate fell to 7.8 percent in the three
months to the end of May, compared with 7.9 percent in the
three months to April, the Office for National Statistics
(ONS) said in a statement.
The number of unemployed people fell 34,000 in the three
months to May to reach 2.468 million, under the
International Labor Organization (ILO) measure.
And the number of Britons claiming benefits fell in June
dropped 20,800 to 1.460
million people-the fifth successive monthly drop and the
lowest level for 15 months. The decline was in line with
market expectations.
The ONS added that employment meanwhile rose 160,000 in
the three months to May to 28.9 million people, which was
the largest increase since the three months to August
2006.
"The latest labour market are broadly encouraging with a
further decent drop in claimant count unemployment, the
number of jobless finally falling on the ILO measure and
employment spiking up," said IHS Global Insight economist
Howard Archer.
"This suggests that the economy's continuing expansion,
since returning to growth in the fourth quarter of 2009,
is currently resulting in at least a temporary modest
improvement in the labour market."
Earlier this week, official data confirmed that Britain
pushed further away from recession with 0.3-percent
economic growth in the first three months of the year.
However, the ONS had also revealed on Tuesday that
Britain's recession was deeper than previously thought.
The recession, which began in the second quarter of 2008
and ended in late 2009, had slashed a total of 6.4 percent
from British economic output, it said.
That was sharper than the previous estimate of a
6.2-percent contraction in gross domestic product.
Spanish banks
borrow record amount from ECB
AFP, Madrid
Spanish banks borrowed 126.3 billion euros from the
European Central Bank in June, the Bank of Spain said on
Wednesday, revealing a record figure as institutions here
struggle to refinance on international markets. The amount
borrowed last month rose by 78.6 percent from the amount
at the same time last year and represents a rise of 47.5
percent over the amount borrowed in May, figures published
on the website of Spain's central bank showed.
Spain is a member of the eurozone but is also in the front
line of concern about the resilience of its banking
system, and of concerns over the scale of public deficits
and debt. It was the highest amount borrowed in a
one-month period by Spanish banks from the Frankfurt-based
ECB since the Bank of Spain started publishing the figures
when the eurozone was launched in 1999.
The rise in borrowing by Spanish banks comes as the total
amount lent by the ECB to financial institutions in the
entire 16-nation eurozone in June dropped to 496.7 billion
euros (627.2 billion dollars) from 518.6 billion euros in
May and from 615.9 billion euros during the same time last
year.
Last month the Bank of Spain's deputy governor Javier
Ariztegui told a parliamentary commission that since
Easter Spanish banks had been forced to seek financing
from the ECB because of lack of market confidence in
Spain.
National
Powerful city governance
needed for bolstering national economy
BSS, Rajshahi
Speakers at an advocacy workshop in Dhaka on Wednesday
called for an improved and powerful city governance for
the sake of an overall development of the national
economy.
Terming the present era as an era of power
decentralization and ensuring transparency and
accountability in the development activities they
underscored the need for complete autonomy to the city
corporations.
The workshop styled "City Governance and Private Sector
Development" was organized by the International Business
Forum of Bangladesh (IBFB) at Hotel Aristocrat. Around 170
public representatives and persons representing different
business organizations and professional groups of
different districts of the northwest Bangladesh attended
the programme. Chairman of the Parliamentary Standing
Committee on LGRD and Cooperative Ministry Advocate Rahmat
Ali addressed the meeting as the chief guest while Mayor
of Rajshahi City Corporation AHM Khairuzzaman Liton,
former Mayors Advocate Abdul Hadi and Mijanur Rahman Minu
and President of Rajshahi Chamber of Commerce and Industry
(RCCI) Abu Bakker Ali as special guests with IBFB
President Mahmudul Islam Chowdhury in the chair. IBFB
Research Director Dr Mafizur Rahman presented a research
report elaborating various aspects of ensuring city
governance and private sector development.
Advocate Rahmat Ali stated that the present government has
amended the Acts of the city corporation and other local
government bodies after evaluating the Acts of different
countries.
"We believe in actual development of the nation and
betterment of the grassroots people," he said adding that
the amended acts were acclaimed widely.
Mayor Liton underscored the need for strengthening the
city corporations to attain cherished development of the
nation through establishing good governance in the local
government organization.
Referring to the grim pictures prevailing in the local
government bodies, he viewed that there is no alternative
to power decentralization and strengthening local
government bodies to fulfill the hopes and aspirations of
the grassroots people.
Mayor Liton said the public representatives could not
deliver public services according to the demands of the
people in general due to various limitations and the
existing system errors in the development allocation.
Agricultural university, girls cadet college to be built
in Rajshahi: Liton
BSS Rajshahi
Mayor of Rajshahi AHM Khairuzzaman Liton has said an
agricultural university and a girls cadet college would be
built in Rajshahi to meet the long-cherished demands of
the local people.
Besides, he said the necessary process for establishing an
information and technology (IT) village is underway. He
revealed this while according a reception to the
meritorious students at Uttara Community Center here last
night as the chief guest.
Mayor Liton termed the country's comparatively high rate
of female education at present as a good sign for the
nation and underscored the need for more female education
to reduce the existing disparity between male and female.
In this regard, he viewed that the females are more caring
towards nurturing the babies along with looking after them
from very beginning.
Besides, he said more educated citizens are completely
dependent on more educated mothers. So, there is no way,
but to educate all the present girls.
Liton said Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has taken
initiative to make the education up to HSC free of cost
and her noble vision would help building Bangladesh like
the developed Malaysia by 2021.
Referring to the development of process of Rajshahi, he
said various need-oriented uplift programs are being
implemented and those are becoming visible in phases.
By 2013, he stated that 10 garments factories are likely
to be established in Rajshahi, by which, employment
opportunities for at least 10,000 people would be
generated.
Relating to the ongoing installation works on gas
pipeline, he said Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is likely
to inaugurate the gas transmission activities by the
yearend.
Apart from this, he mentioned that a power generation
plant is being constructed at Katakhali and hoped that
there would no more power crisis subject to successful
commissioning of the plant. Chaired by local Awami League
leader Jalal Uddin, the function was addressed, among
others, by Panel Mayor of Rajshahi City Corporation
Shariful Islam Babu and Awami League leaders Shafiqur
Rahman Badsha, Naosher Ali, Shamsuzzaman Awal and
Moniruzzaman Bablu.
9 killed, 3 injured in tiger
attack in 56 days in Sundarbans
UNB, Satkhira
Nine people, including a woman, were killed and three
others injured in tiger attacks in last 56 days in
Satkhira range of Sundarbans. Forest department sources
said some nine people were killed in tiger attacks from
May to July while catching crabs, fishes and collecting
fire woods.
The deceased were identified as Chhabir Uddin Gazi, 45,
son of Keyamuddin Gazi, of Burigoalini village in
Shyamnagar upazila, Nasima Khatun, 45, wife of Khalil Gazi,
of Barbhetkhali village, Haripad Mandal, 45, Kalipad
Mandal, of Mirganj village, Kena Mandal, 70, son of Yadav
Mandal of Jatindranagar village, Saiful Islam, 21, son of
Rafi Gazi, of Daatnekhali village, Azizur Rahman Sana, 35,
son of Late Taser Sana, of the same village, Nausher Ali,
70, his son Ismail Hossain, 16, of Kadamtola village and
Iman Ali, 35, son of Shukchand Ali Sardar of Kultoli
village.
The injured were identified as Amin Morol, 13, son of
Mostafa Morol, Rubel Morol, son of Rashid Morol, and
Mujibor Gazi, 45, of Harinagar Village in Shyamnagar
upazila.
Toufiqul Islam, ACF of West Forest zone of Sundarbans said
in the face of increasing attacks by tigers they have
alerted the bawalis and fishermen to move cautiously in
the area.
BD-Nepal secretary
level talks begin
UNB, Dhaka
A two-day commerce secretary-level talks between
Bangladesh and Nepal began in Dhaka on Wednesday in a bid
to finalize bilateral issues including trade expansion,
transport connectivity and removal of trade barriers.
Commerce Secretary Mohammad Ghulam Husain is leading the
15-member Bangladesh team while his Nepali counterpart
Purushottam Ojha is heading the six-member team. The talks
were held at the conference room of commerce ministry.
Representatives from foreign, industries, shipping,
communication and power ministries, Board of Investment,
National Board of Revenue, Export Promotion Bureau,
Bangladesh Export Processing Zone Authority and Bangladesh
Tariff Commission were included in the Bangladesh team.
Commerce Ministry sources said apart from transit
connectivity and transport issues, key points of the talks
are duty-free market facilities, tariff preference,
full-fledged operation of
Kakarbhitta-Panitanki-Phulbari-Banglabandh corridor and
allowing Nepalese trucks into Banglabandh land port.
Railway connectivity, Dhaka-Kathmandu bus service and
transport of perishable goods through air cargo service
also came under discussion.
The last secretary-level meeting between Nepal and
Bangladesh was held in October 2007 in Nepal's capital
Katmandu.
Sports
Katich warns Pakistan after Aussie
slump
AFP, London
Simon Katich warned Pakistan's they might struggle too if
conditions remained overcast after Australia decli-ned to 229
for nine on the first day of the first Test here at Lord's on
Tuesday.
Pakistan's new-ball duo of teenage left-arm quick Mohammad
Aamer and Mohammad Asif took six wickets between them as they
made the most of captain Shahid Afridi's decision to field
first.
Only left-handed opener Katich, with 80, has so far got past
fifty with Michael Clarke making 47 and Michael Hussey 39 not
out at stumps. But Australia seamers Mitchell Johnson, Ben
Hilfenhaus and Doug Bollinger will hope the cloud cover
remains. "We've got 230-odd runs in the bank," Katich told
reporters. "If conditions stay the same, Pakistan may struggle
too." When Pakistan last came to England in 2006 their middle-
order featured batsmen of proven quality in Inzamam-ul-Haq,
Mohammad Yousuf and Younus Khan.
But Inzamam has since retired while the disciplinary fall- out
from Pakistan's 3-0 Test series loss in Australia earlier this
year means that Yousuf and Younus aren't even in the squad
this time, with their places at Lord's filled by Test
debutants Azhar Ali and Umar Amin. As recently as January,
Australia were bowled out for 127 by Pakistan in Sydney yet
still won the Test and Katich said: "A couple of guys will
really enjoy bowling in these conditions and they've got a
couple of inexperienced guys in their line-up." Australia,
apart from a third-wicket stand of 120 between Katich and
Clarke. found runs hard to come by. An they were rocked by
Asif's sensational burst of three wickets for no runs in seven
balls either side of tea which began when he had Clarke, who
looked in good touch, lbw with the last ball before the
interval.
"That wicket on tea was important," Katich said. "They got a
sniff and on a bit of a roll. "It was a tough day and at no
stage did the sun break through."
Katich, caught behind off Asif after more than three hours at
the crease, said of the man who took his wicket: "He's got the
ability to move the ball both ways."
As for Aamer, Katich added: "He's an outstanding young bowler.
We were impressed with him in Australia, given he was playing
on very flat wickets. "He's a really good competitor who keeps
charging in." This was the ninth successive Test where Katich,
who has had a stop-start Australia career, has made a fifty.
Katich insisted there was no secret to his recent consistency.
Guardiola
extends contract with Barcelona
AFP, Madrid
Barcelona coach Josep Guardiola, who has led the club to seven
trophies in two seasons, will sign a one-year contract
extension on Wednesday, the Spanish champions revealed.
"The expected announcement of Guardiola's continued presence
on the bench is a reality," said the club in a statement
posted on their website. Guardiola's contract expired on June
30 but the 39-year-old agreed in January to extend it by one
season while Joan Laporta was still the president of the club.
Barcelona's new president, Sandro Rosell, said shortly after
he was elected on June 13 that he would try to get Guardiola
to sign a six-year contract extention.
The lack of a written contract fuelled media speculation at
the end of last season that the coach could leave the Catalan
giants.
Guardiola, a former Barcelona midfielder, took charge of the
club in June 2008 following a spell as boss of their B team.
Under his watch Barcelona won two successive La Liga crowns,
in 2009 and 2010, as well as the 2009 Cham-pions League.
Casillas
hints Cole set to join Real Madrid
AFP, London
Chelsea defender Ashley Cole could be set to join Real
Madrid, according to the Spanish club's goalkeeper Iker
Casillas.
Cole has been linked with a 30 million pounds (36 million
euros) move to Real since his former Chelsea manager Jose
Mourinho took over at the Bernabeu Stadium in May.
The England left-back is reported to be unhappy with life
in England following his separation from popstar wife
Cheryl in the aftermath of tabloid newspaper stories
alleging he had affairs with several women.
Mourinho is believed to be keen to reunite with Cole and
Casillas, who captained Spain to World Cup glory, claims
he has been told a deal to sign the 29-year-old is in the
pipeline. "From what I am hearing, the signs look good,"
Casillas told The Sun. "I have only briefly spoken to
people at the club, but I am confident that he can be a
Real Madrid player next year.
"I think it will be the right move for him both
professionally and personally. A clean break from England
is hopefully something he is very interested in. "It will
be his last big contract and who better to sign for than
his old coach Mourinho at Real? He will know better than
anybody this club will be successful under Jose. "Jose has
proved he buys players and makes them the very best in the
world in their position. "With Ashley he doesn't need to
do that because he's already the best left-back in the
world. Jose knows all about him and it comes as no
surprise to me he is very much on Madrid's radar."
Henry signs for New York Red Bulls
AFP, New York
French football star Thierry Henry has signed for New York
Red Bulls on a long-term deal, the US club announced on
Wednesday.
The striker is expected to make his debut for the Red
Bulls in a home friendly on July 22 against English
Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur.
"It is without question that Thierry Henry is one of the
most successful and recognisable soccer players over the
past 15 years," said Dietmar Beiersdorfer, head of Red
Bull global soccer. "We are thrilled that Thierry has
decided to come to New York to help the Red Bulls compete
for championships this year and for years to come. His
international pedigree is second to none and he is a
proven winner." Henry, who signed the "multi-year"
contract after leaving Spanish champions Barcelona, added:
"This marks an exciting new chapter in my career and life.
It is an honour to play for the New York Red Bulls.
"I am fully aware of the team's history and my sole goal
during my time here is to help win the club its first
championship.
"Knowing Red Bull's significant commitment to soccer
locally and internationally, I am confident that my
teammates and I will succeed."
Two in a row as
Everton beat Melbourne Heart
AFP, Melbourne
English Premier League club Everton made it two wins in a
row on their Australian tour when they beat A League
newcomers Melbourne Heart 2-0 here on Wednesday.
Jack Rodwell and Louis Saha scored for the visitors
against the new club, who did at least manage to string
together some good passages against clearly superior
opponents.
The Heart were playing only their fourth game together
and, apart from former Wigan player Josip Skoko's
long-range effort in the first half and Eli Babalj's
volley in the second, they lacked the finishing needed at
this level. Rodwell had given the visitors the lead when
he knocked in a Seamus Coleman cross in the 34th minute,
before Saha showed the home side how it should be done as
he finished beautifully on his left foot on the hour.
Saha's strike made amends for his penalty miss in the
opening few minutes.
Referee Matthew Breeze awarded Everton a spot kick for
Rutger Worm's challenge on Coleman, but Saha put the shot
wide of the net. Everton's win was the second on their
pre-season tour of Australia, following last Saturday's
1-0 win over Sydney FC.
Socceroos star Tim Cahill spent the first half on the
bench for Everton and had little impact when brought on at
half-time.
Everton manager David Moyes handed debuts to Jermaine
Beckford and Joao Silva. Ex-Leeds man Beckford almost made
it the perfect start when he turned and fired at goal with
his first touch only for the shot to sail just wide.
Everton finish their three-match tour against the Brisbane
Roar in Brisbane on Saturday.
Bolt seeks Paris boost on return from injury
AFP, Paris
World sprinting sensation Usain Bolt admits that he is
firing at only 80 percent, but has still targeted 9.7
seconds for his 100m outing at Friday's Diamond League
meet here. The world record holder in the 100 and 200m
returned from an achilles tendon injury with a clear win
in 9.82sec at the Diamond League in Lausanne last
Thursday.
And the Jamaican, a triple Olympic and double world
champion, said his goal was now to remain undefeated
during the season, which for him features no major
championships. "I definitely feel good," the 23-year-old
said. "I'm happy where I am at the moment.
"My main goal this season is defintely to stay unbeaten.
The other was to remain injury-free but that went out the
window."
He added: "I'm probably 80 percent fit. It'll be another
2-3 more weeks before I start going full speed. "The goal
on Friday is defintely not to lose the race. "I'm getting
back into shape and I'll be trying to go 9.7sec. It should
be a good race." Bolt said he was not expecting to have
everything his own way, however, from a field that
includes compatriots Asafa Powell and Yohan Blake, and
up-and-coming French sprinter Christian Lemaitre who set a
new French record of 9.98sec on the weekend.
"Conditions should be good on Friday, and when the
competition is keen and Asafa is coming, you know it's
going to be fast," he said. "The field is hard: there's
Powell, Blake, Lemaitre... a lot of guys will go under
10sec.
Agen sign Robinson and Campos
AFP, Agen
Newly-promoted France Top 14 side Agen have added Wales
centre Jamie Robinson and Argentina number eight Alejandro
Campos to their roster for the 2010-11 season, the club
announced on Tuesday.
The 30-year-old Robinson, who has been capped 23 times,
most recently in 2007, is no newcomer to the Top 14,
France's top flight domestic competition, having left
Cardiff Blues to help Toulon last season finish second in
the table. His arrival coincides with the departure of
South African Daniel Du Plessis.
Campos, capped 10 times by the Pumas, is also no stranger
to French rugby having played in the Top 14 with Clermont-Ferrand
and, last season, Montauban. Agen had been hoping to sign
Wales flanker Andy Powell but the Cardiff man finally
opted to move to London Wasps.
Founded in 1908, Agen won the second division championship
last season and are returning to the top flight of French
rugby for the first time in three years. They have won the
French championship eight times, most recently in 1988.
Torres diagnosed with groin injury
AFP, Madrid
Liverpool striker Fernando Torres may miss the start of
the season after the Spanish Football Feder-ation (RFEF)
announced Wednesday that he has a groin injury.
The RFEF said in a statement that Torres had suffered a
"grade one" tear to his left adductor muscle, which is
likely to keep him out of action for up to a month.
The 26-year-old pulled up towards the end of Spain's 1-0
World Cup final victory over Netherlands in Johannesburg
on Sunday.
He lost his place in the Spanish starting line-up when he
was dropped for the semi-final against Germany, having
looked short of sharpness following his return to the side
after a knee operation at the end of last season.
Liverpool have given their World Cup players three weeks
off to recuperate, with Torres not due to report to
Anfield until the beginning of August.
The Reds begin their Premier League campaign at home to
Arsenal on August 15.
Watson in the wickets as Pakistan
collapse
AFP, London
Shane Watson was Aust-ralia's unlikely bowling star as
Pakistan collapsed to 141 for nine at tea on the second
day of the first Test at Lord's here on Wednesday.
Medium-pacer Watson's return of four wickets for 40 runs
in seven eventful overs helped leave Pakistan 112 runs
behind Australia's first innings 253. Australia's batsmen
had struggled in overcast, swing bowler friendly
conditions on Tuesday.
But, with the skies above Lord's remaining grey, Watson
took two wickets for no runs in four balls after being
brought on by captain Ricky Ponting. Only Pakistan captain
and left-handed opener Salman Butt offered much resistance
with a determined 63 in nearly three hours before he was
bowled by a Watson inswinger.
The all-rounder's return kept Australia on course for a
13th straight Test win against Pakistan, which would give
them the outright record for most successive victories by
one country against another, with Sri Lanka having also
beaten Bangladesh 12 times in a row.
Ben Hilfenhaus, who did the early damage, took two for 38
in 11 overs and new-ball partner Doug Bollinger two for 37
in 12. Danish Kaneria was 11 not out and last man Mohammad
Asif nought not out. Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi,
playing his first Test for four years, came to the crease
with his team in dire straits at 83 for five. Afridi
resp-onded in typical fashion by getting off the mark with
a legside glamce for four against Watson. And he followed
that up by almost casually flicking Watson off his pads
for six into the Grandstand. Afridi then drove Watson
through mid-off and guided him down to the vacant third
man area for boundaries. The counter-attack continued when
Afridi, nicked-named 'Boom, Boom' drove Watson over
long-off for six. But Watson had the last laugh when
Afridi was out for 31 when he mistimed a drive and was
caught by Johnson running round at mid-off.
Afridi hit two sixes and four fours in 15 balls but
Pakistan were now 117 for six. Pakistan were 54 for two,
with Umar Amin avoiding a nought in his first Test
innings, when bad light stopped play for nearly an hour.
But second ball after the resumption the 20-year-old Amin
was out for one when caught behind off a thin edge against
Johnson.
The swinging conditions would have been tough for even the
likes of experienced Pakistan pair Mohammad Yousuf and
Younus Khan to combat. But in the absence of the duo, left
behind following the fall-out from bans imposed by
officials after Pakistan's 3-0 Test series loss in
Australia earlier this year, debutants Azhar Ali and Amin,
in at numbers three and four respectively, managed just 17
runs between them.
Umar Akmal had been a thorn in Australia's side during
Pakistan's two Twenty20 wins at Edgbaston last week. But
here he was lbw for five aiming across the line of a
straight Watson ball. And brother Kamran fared even worse,
lbw for nought when completely deceived by Watson's
inswinger to leave Pakistan 83 for five.
Beckham rules out move
into management
AFP, London
England star David Beckham insists he has no intention of
becoming a manager when he retires from playing. After an
Achilles injury ended his dream of playing in a fourth
World Cup, Beckham spent the tournament in South Africa as
part of England's backroom staff and sat on the bench
throughout the team's ill-fated campaign.
The former Manchester United and Real Madrid midfielder
gave advice to members of the squad and acted as a buffer
between coach Fabio Capello and his players.
It has been suggested Beckham could take charge of England
in the future but the 35-year-old has never been tempted
by the thought of going into management and he has once
again ruled out that option. "I must admit it's something
I've never been interested in," he said in a webchat with
Yahoo on Wednesday. "It's not a passion of mine to be a
manager of a football team. "I'm passionate about the game
and being there and obviously I was wearing the suit so
people have looked and thought I could be going into
that." "I spoke to James (Milner), Shaun
(Wright-Phillips), Aaron (Lennon)... all the right-sided
players. I spoke to all the players. If there's anything
that needed saying from the manager of the players, that
was kind of my role.
"I enjoyed that but, coaching-wise, I love coaching kids -
that's one of the reasons I have my academies - the
children, I love seeing their faces when they're kicking
the ball around. I love the enthusiasm, the honesty -
that's one of the things I love doing. "But coaching a
team, being a manager, at this point in my career I don't
want to do that and in the future I don't think that will
happen either."
Flower sees
Gilchrist role for Kieswetter
AFP, London
Andy Flower still believes Craig Kieswetter can be
England's answer to Adam Gilchrist despite his recent run
of low scores in one-day internationals.
Australia great Gilchrist, who retired from international
cricket two years ago, was both a dashing opener in the
one-day format, capable of big scores as well as a sound
gloveman, and increased the pressure on his fellow keepers
to match his runs in the Test arena too.
Many countries have tried and failed to find an equivalent
to Gilchrist but England think they may be onto something
with the South Africa born Kieswetter.
The 22-year-old, who plays for Somerset, struck a hundred
in only his third one-day international and made his name
globally with a man-of-the-match winning 63 in England's
World Twenty20 final win against Australia in Barbados in
May. But given a chance to open in the one-day, as well as
Twenty20 format, in England this season, the Somerset
batsman has
struggled for runs. He could only manage 69 in five
one-day innings against Australia, whose quicks repeatedly
burst through his defences while in three matches against
the somewhat less intimidating Bangladesh attack he was
out for for 32, 20 and nought in a series England wrapped
up 2-1 at Edgbaston on Monday.
Faldo likes odds of
Open end to English major drought
AFP, St. Andrews
Nick Faldo sees signs that England golfers are on the
verge of ending a 14-year win drought in majors as he and
21 countrymen prepare for Thursday's start of the British
Open.
No Englishman has won a major since Faldo collected the
last of his six majors at the 1996 Masters, aided by an
epic collapse from Greg Norman, and no Englishman has won
the British Open since Faldo's third Open title in 1992.
But with four Englishmen ranked in the top 10, led by
number three Lee Westwood, and 16th-rated Justin Rose
coming off two impressive US triumphs, the time might
finally be right for a breakthrough.
"I would have thought it's a probable now. So it's very
possible. Bottom line is the guys are there. It wouldn't
surprise me," Faldo said.
"I think everybody is learning and everybody is really
keen. I think something is going to happen this week."
Rose could be just the man to make it happen. The
29-year-old from London won last month's Memorial
tournament and the National just two weeks ago, capturing
his first two American crowns for his first titles in
three years.
"Rosey might be a very obvious first choice," Faldo said.
"He has played really well the last month, seems to have
found something in the game, his mind and everything. The
way he handled these two victories is really impressive."
Westwood was the runner-up at this year's Masters and
third in last year's British Open and PGA Championship as
well as the 2008 US Open.
"Obviously Lee is very solid tee to green, which St.
Andrews is really all about," Faldo said. "Avoid the
bunkers, hit the greens, keeping it flag high, that's the
key."
England's Luke Donald, ranked seventh, won the Madrid
Masters in May while countryman Ian Poulter captured the
World Golf Championships Match Play title by beating
10th-rated Englishman Paul Casey in the final.
Faldo says the failure of any Englishman to follow in his
footsteps is not a disappointment, but he is glad to see
more of his compatriots making a mark.
"Everybody gives their 100 percent to make it happen and
they are gaining experience," Faldo said.
"There was a while where there wasn't that, but you look
at the last five years of the majors and the English and
the British players have started to get more and more
experience. That was what spurred me on."
With Norman and Tom Watson making runs at British Open
titles the past two years, Faldo could try to turn back
the clock this week on the Old Course where he won the
1990 British Open. But do not count on it.
World Cup final
referee Webb has no regrets
AFP, London
World Cup final referee Howard Webb arrived home in
England on Tuesday insisting he had done a tough job in
difficult circumstances to the best of his ability.
The English official has come in for criticism from some
quarters, notably from some Dutch players, over his
handling of Sunday's final, one of the dirtiest in the
history of the World Cup.
He handed out a record 14 yellow cards and sent off
Holland's Everton defender John Heitinga during Spain's
fractious 1-0 win.
The Yorkshireman arrived home from South Africa with his
assistants Darren Cann and Michael Mullarkey to a barrage
of media interest in their performance at Soccer City in
Johannesburg. In a statement released through the Premier
League he said:
"Whatever the match, you always hope that the officials
won't need to be heavily involved. However, we had to
raise our profile in order to keep control.
"We don't feel that we had much choice except to manage
the game in the way we did. We came away feeling satisfied
that we'd done a tough job in difficult circumstances to
the best of our abilities.
"It was an extremely challenging match to handle, but it
would have been so for any referee. It is one of the
toughest games we will ever be involved in and we feel
that we worked hard to keep the focus on the football as
much as possible."
The Dutch players have been widely criticised for their
behaviour during the final, during which Bert van
Marwijk's side committed a rash of heavy-handed
challenges, including by former Holland logend Johann
Cruyff. Holland were fortunate not to lose midfielder
Nigel de Jong to a straight red card in the first half for
a high challenge on Xabi Alonso.
But, despite Webb's leniency on that occasion, his
performance nevertheless incensed the Dutch, and he was
confronted by several players after the final whistle.
"From early on in the match we had to make decisions that
were clear yellow cards," Webb continued.
Spain reach
summit of FIFA World Ranking
AFP, Paris
World Cup winners Spain replaced Brazil at the top of the
most recent FIFA World Ranking released Wednesday.
Vicente Del Bosque's side climbed one place to the top of
the ranking after beating the Netherlands 1-0 after extra
time in Sunday's final in Johannesburg.
The beaten finalists moved up one place to second, with
quarter-finalists Brazil falling to third.
Uruguay were the biggest climbers in the top 10, rising 10
places to sixth-their highest ever ranking-after their
unexpected run to the semi-finals.
Fellow South Americans Paraguay climbed 15 places to 16th,
while Japan's success in reaching the last 16 took them up
13 places to 32nd.
New Zealand enjoyed the most significant rise, going up 24
places to 54th after finishing their World Cup campaign
unbeaten in spite of the fact they were knocked out at the
group stage.
England rose one place to seventh despite crashing out to
Germany in the second round, but there was no such good
fortune for fellow under-achievers Italy and France.
Defending champions Italy dropped six places to 11th after
they were eliminated in the group phase, while France
plunged 12 places to 21st following their disastrous
campaign.
FIFA world rankings
1. Spain (+1)
2. Netherlands (+2)
3. Brazil (-3)
4. Germany (+2)
5. Argentina (+2)
6. Uruguay (+10)
7. England (+1)
8. Portugal (-5)
9. Egypt (+3)
10. Chile (+8)
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